


Scars Don't Fade

by Animedemon01



Category: Carmen Sandiego (Cartoon 2019)
Genre: More tags to be added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2021-03-22
Packaged: 2021-04-21 16:09:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 148,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22091269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Animedemon01/pseuds/Animedemon01
Summary: After saving Dash Haber, and encountering other operatives and ex-operatives, Carmen begins understand their paths better, from the events that brought them to VILE in the first place, to the scars their time in VILE has left on them.
Relationships: Dash Haber/Zack, El Topo | Antonio/Le Chèvre | Jean-Paul, Moose Boy/Otter Man (Carmen Sandiego)
Comments: 52
Kudos: 159





	1. Save Me When I Fall

**Author's Note:**

> Every chapter will have its own trigger warning at the start, please heed it as later chapters will get into some darker shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning for this chapter: some violence

For Dash Haber, losing VILE would be like losing a big part of himself. He had been an operative for almost four years, having spent three of those years under the direct control of Countess Cleo. He had become very skilled at his job, earning himself a high success rate by skillfully completing the majority of his assignments.

Of course, it wasn’t just the loss of his successes that kept him loyal to VILE, but the simple fact that he didn’t have much of a life to go back to if anything were to happen. Dash’s adoptive parents had abandoned him at the age of eighteen when they were no longer receiving money for caring for him. He had spent the two years before he joined VILE working for a tailor and living in the apartment above the shop that they owner didn’t use. Neither of those places existed anymore; the tailor had retired to move across the country to live with family, and the building he once owned had been sold and torn down a few months later. Dash had gone to visit the building earlier in the year, but at that point it was too late, and he only learned what had happened from the internet.

“I know it has been a while since you’ve last had a proper assignment, but I trust you have not allowed yourself to grow rusty.” Countess Cleo said to him.

“Of course, I haven’t, Countess.” Dash told her.

Besides exercising and keeping a proper diet in order to keep his body in the best shape possible, Dash’s hobbies of knitting, sewing, and designing outfits translated fairly well into his work. His hands were steady enough to perform the most precise of tasks, and he had the attention to detail to match. He might not have been the toughest or strongest operative, but he certainly made up for it in his own way.

She gave a nod. “Wonderful. This assignment requires you to receive a stolen painting from another operative. While this is nothing you haven’t done before, due to the value of this particular painting, it is very likely that you will encounter Carmen Sandiego.

“The other operative will be able to help you if anything goes wrong during the handoff, but after that, if miss Sandiego is to find you, you will be on your own. The place where you will be meeting the other operative is, itself, not a safe location. The handoff will take place in an old factory warehouse in a bad part of Denver where crime is commonplace. The petty criminals you may encounter here are nothing compared to even the most useless of VILE operatives, but it doesn’t hurt to keep an eye out. I trust you will complete your assignment successfully.”

“Of course, Countess Cleo; I will not disappoint you.” He told her.

“Good. Your flight leaves in exactly an hour, be ready by then.”

“Alright, Red, our best chance of getting our hands on that painting is during the handoff.” Said Player. “So that’s when you need to strike.”

“But that would mean I’d have to take down two VILE operatives instead of just one.” Replied Carmen. “Wouldn’t it make more sense to either steal the painting before they do or take down one of the operatives while they’re alone.”

“Its not VILE we need to worry about with this one; its ACME.” He told her. “ACME knows that this art show would be the perfect opportunity for someone to swoop in and steal that painting. They have eyes everywhere in the gallery, and agents will be all over the city looking for any suspicious activity. The only place I can guarantee they won’t be is in the warehouse where the handoff is to take place.”

“Good thinking, Player. So, we just need to hide in the warehouse and wait for the two operatives to enter and begin the exchange?”

“Exactly, Red. I’d bring Zack and Ivy just in case, but I’m confident that you and Shadow-San should be able to take out the two operatives on your own.”

“Carm, you sure this is the place that VILE’s gonna be?” Asked Zack, looking around the decrepit warehouse.

The warehouse had clearly not been in use for years. Plants had started growing through the cracks in the cement floor, the windows had al been broken, every wall was now plastered with graffiti, the Mezzanine was rusted out and had even collapsed in a few places, making its safety questionable at best. Safe for a few permanent fixtures, and few a stacks of moldy pallets, everything else had been taken by vandals.

“VILE chose this location specifically because of the bad area it is located in, and the appearance of the place.” Explained Carmen. “Thanks to Roundabout, VILE is aware of the increase of both local police and ACME agents alike, so they had to choose a location that neither group would think to waste time on. And since all patrol is going to be focused on the gallery, nobody would bother with an operative dressed unassumingly entering a bad part of town away from the gallery. Once they notice the painting is gone, they’re gonna focus their efforts on the immediate area.”

Because of the small size of the painting (small enough to fit into an oversized handbag), it would also be easy for an operative to swap it out for a worthless fake, thus keeping anyone from realizing that it was gone until it was far too late.

“Uh, guys, I think you need to find a hiding spot quick.” Said Ivy over their communication devices. She was currently keeping watch from the van. “Somebodies coming!”

Zack ducked behind a pile of moldy pallets, while Carmen and Shadow-San hid themselves up on the Mezzanine, taking care to only stay in the most intact parts of the rusted structure.

Dash wasn’t wearing his normal posh outfit. No, that would attract too much unwanted attention from both ACME and common thieves and vandals that lurked in this area of the city. Instead he wore a plain and unassuming outfit consisting of a grey hoodie and a pair of ripped jeans, not something he would normally wear if he had a choice. His hat was tucked away inside of the navy-blue backpack he carried, just in case he needed it.

He crept quietly into the old warehouse, hoping the other operative would show up soon so he could leave this dirty place. He had originally assumed that the van he saw outside had belonged to Gator, the operative who would be delivering him the painting, but since the other man had not been waiting for him when he showed up, he figured the van must belong to a drug dealer or someone of a similar profession who called this part of the city home.

Dash waited in silence for a few minutes until Gator made his way into the warehouse, carrying a large cello case. While the operative was rough around the edges, he was a fairly skilled cello player, and had snuck into the gallery posing as a member of the band that was performing at the showing. He had ditched the cheap cello that he had originally arrived with in order to free up the case for the painting.

“Be careful with this case.” He told Dash. “That cello was a piece of shit, but this case is nice, and they told me I could have it when this is all over.”

Gator was a borderline redneck, but he did know his way around a cello, and knew good equipment when he saw it.

Just as Gator was about to hand the case over to Dash, he spotted a blur of red, and suddenly Carmen Sandiego and Shadow-San jumped down from the Mezzanine, blocking the routes of escape for both operatives. Zack, not wanting to miss a chance to kick some VILE ass, jumped out from behind the stack of pallets.

“Well, well, well.” Chuckled Gator, cracking his knuckles. “Looks like we’ve got ourselves a rumble on our hands. You know, I kinda expected something like this to happen. After all, it ain’t my first rodeo.”

“Hand over the painting and we’ll let you go without a fight!” Shouted Carmen.

Gator laughed. “I’d like to see you try. Two of you are just kids, and Shadow-San over there’s so old I’m surprised he didn’t break his hip on the jump.” He turned to Dash, thrusting the case into his arms. “Run! You’re not a fighter, I am; getting this thing as far away from them as possible.”

Dash gave a nod, looking around for an escape route. He couldn’t get out the he’d come in, as both doors were now blocked, but he could see a cracked window high up on the side of the warehouse, perfectly accessible from the Mezzanine. He could even see a ladder in close proximity to his current position.

He quickly pulled his hat out the backpack, knowing he’d have to leave the backpack behind, and not wanting to lose his best weapon. Gator was doing a good job of keeping the three distracted, but Dash knew the other man couldn’t keep it up forever, and that his window of escape was small at best.

Slinging the case on to his back, Dash sprinted for the ladder, climbing as fast as he could. The ladder itself was in good shape, having no problem supporting his weight. The Mezzanine, however, was a different story, and as soon as he began to pull himself on to it, part of it collapsed, taking him with it.

Team Red were all distracted by the crash, and Gator took this opportunity to escape, deciding he would rather run back to VILE with his tail between his legs than risk his life in that decrepit warehouse any longer.

As soon as he was a good deal away from the warehouse, he called the Head Faculty members on his communicator.

“The assignment is a failure!” He shouted into the device. “Dash Haber is dead!”

Carmen Sandiego stared in horror at the scene in front of her. She hadn’t exactly been on good terms with Dash Haber, but he certainly didn’t deserve _this_. As Zack and Shadow-San were busy checking on the case and the painting inside (it had been thrown clear in the fall), she carefully walked over to where Dash lie, and knelt down beside him. When she realized he was still breathing, she gasped in surprise.

“He’s still alive!” She shouted. “One of you help me with the rubble that landed on top of him!”

Neither Zack nor Shadow-San moved.

“We can’t leave him here!” She shouted. “VILE doesn’t know he survived! They’ll burn this place down with him inside!”

“We don’t have much of a choice.” Said Shadow-San. “We have to leave him here and hope ACME finds him first.”

“I kinda agree with Carmen.” Said Zack, to everyone’s surprise. “We need to at least take him to a hospital. We can just drop him off, that way we’ll at least be able to know he got help.”

Carmen shook her head. “No, we have to do this ourselves. If we take him to a hospital, VILE will track him down and erase his memory.”

Carmen didn’t really know anything about Dash’s past, but she did know two things. One, nobody joined VILE because they wanted to; it was always a lesser of two evils, and for many operatives it was their ticket off the streets, or out of a bad life. Two, after seeing the impact having his memory erased had on Gray as a person, she could never let another person suffer that same fate if she could prevent it.

“ACME will be here in just a few minutes; leave the painting, they’ll make sure it gets returned.” She instructed. “Shadow-San, you’re the strongest, grab Haber!”

Shadow-San picked up the unconscious man without complaint.

“He’s very light, he should be heavier.” He observed.

Ivy was understandably surprised when they showed up at the van with Dash.

“What’s with him?” She asked.

“No time to explain!” Said Zack, hopping into the driver’s seat. “We need to go!”

He waited for everyone to get in before speeding off.

When they were a good distance away from the warehouse, Zack pulled over so they could look over his wounds and explain the situation to Ivy.

They bandaged by Dash the best they could, and while they were able to mostly stop the bleeding, there was only so much they could do, as none of them had the training or supplies to help him further.

“I think we’re gonna have to take him to a hospital, Carm.” Said Zack. “He needs a doctor.”

“No! VILE will erase his memories!” She protested. “I can’t let them do that to anyone else!”

“We might not have a choice.” Replied Ivy.

As they were trying to figure out what to do, Shadow-San spoke up. “I know someone who can help, an old friend of mine with medical training. She lives in Allenspark, about an hour and a half away.”

Carmen nodded, before turning to screen they had installed in the van in order to communicate with Player. “Player, can you find us the fastest route to Allenspark?”

“On it, Red!”

Just over an hour later, they finally arrived in Allenspark. Carmen was surprised by how different the farming town was from Denver, despite them being so close. Dash’s condition had not changed.

Because of its size, the town was all but quiet at that time at night. In fact, most places even had their lights off. Shadow-San directed them passed a vet clinic, and to a small farm behind it. Carmen followed him out of the van and to the door of the farmhouse. He knocked on the door, and a woman who looked to be in her fifties answered after a few minutes.

“We’re closed!” Yawned the woman. “If you have an emergency, there’s a twenty four hour clinic-“

She suddenly stopped after she recognized who was at the door. “Suhara?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, how did you guys like chapter 1, I'll try to have chapter 2 up within a week. Also, I'm gonna start a series of shorter fics, called "Bits and Pieces" that will get more in depth with certain characters/events mentioned her. The first chapter of that I'll start after I post the first chapter of that, as their is still a bit more detail to share before I go into the backstory.
> 
> I don't own any of the images used in this fic, they're all stock images from google.


	2. Old friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shadow-San asks for help from an old friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warnings for this chapter: none.

“Suhara? But aren’t you supposed to be working for VILE?” The woman asked.

“Aren’t you supposed to be dead?” He replied.

She chuckled. “Fair enough, I guess. So, who’s this with you?”

“Her name is Carmen.” He told her. “But you may remember her as Black Sheep.”

The woman gasped. “Black Sheep? Wow, I didn’t recognize you at all. You’ve gotten so big, you’re even taller than me now. Do you remember me at all?”

“Look lady, we don’t have time for this, and I have no idea-“ It took Carmen a second to put the pieces together. “Wait, Bobcat? I thought you died.”

Bobcat laughed. “They haven’t gotten me yet, honey, they just think they did. So, why are here at this hour? I don’t know how you found out where I lived, or even that I’m still alive, but if you’re here so late, it must be important.”

“We have an injured VILE operative in our van.” Said Carmen. “I don’t think VILE knows that he survived, and none of us have enough medical training to help him.”

Bobcat seemed to understand. “And if you were to take him to a hospital, VILE would erase his memory; I saw them do it once, depending on how long an operative has been with VILE, it has the potential to destroy them as a person. Here’s the key to the clinic, lay him on the examination table and I’ll be in in a second; I just need to grab some drugs and equipment that’s a little more human grade from my basement.”

She tossed Carmen her keys and dashed back into her house.

Besides her vet clinic, Bobcat also had two side jobs, both of which contributed to the huge stash of human grade medicine she had in her basement.

The first of these was controlling a large network of smugglers bringing cheap medicine across the boarder from Mexico and selling it in the United States. Most of the medicine they smuggled was necessities like EpiPen’s that were now unaffordable to many people due to price gouging. Her imports were nearly identical to ones one could buy from an actual pharmacy in the states, but much cheaper, even with the cut she and her subordinates took. Her producers knew better than to screw her by giving her an inferior product, as she had made an example of the only one who had tried.

The other was offering criminals medical treatment for a fee. While animals were her specialty (she had spent most of her childhood and teens learning how to heal animals from her parents), she knew a thing or two about treating humans, a skill she had honed during her time as a VILE operative. In most cases a client would call her for treatment, and she would come to them, so long as they were within two hours of her clinic. The employees of her clinic all knew about and were involved in these two operations, not caring about the implications, so long as it helped pay off their massive student loans.

Running to the basement and quickly retrieving the things she needed from the basement, including a liberal amount of pain killers, Bobcat headed to the clinic as fast as she could.

When she entered the exam room, she found the man she assumed to be the VILE operative laid out on the table, unconscious. Carmen, Shadow-San, and a pair of redheads she hadn’t seen before, all stood nearby.

Quickly taking his vitals, she turned to the group. “I need as much information about him and his current condition as possible! A medical history would be a bonus.”

“His codename is Dash Haber; I think he’s 24 or so.” Said Carmen, uncertainly. “He was Countess Cleo’s assistant, he got injured when he was in a factory and part of a mezzanine fell while he was on it. I’d say he’s about six feet tall, but I don’t know how much he weighs.”

Bobcat turned to Shadow-San. “Suhara, I don’t know when you left VILE, but I’m assuming he was one of your students at one point, do you know anything else about him?”

“His real name is Dashiell.” He replied. “I don’t remember too much else about him, but I was the one to carry him in, and he felt a bit underweight. I do not know if he has any allergies.”

“Okay, and how long has he been unconscious for? Has his breathing and heartrate stayed constant?”

“He’s been unconscious for about an hour and a half.” Replied Carmen. “His breathing and heartrate haven’t changed.”

Bobcat nodded, giving Dash’s obviously broken right arm a look of concern. “I’m going to get him set up with an IV and some morphine, then I’ll take care of anything that needs to be rebandaged or stitched; I always keep a few bags of O- blood in my basement fridge-easier to keep just the universal type-in case he needs a transfusion, but I doubt it. I’ll do some X-Ray’s once I take care of the more urgent wounds.

“Its too late to call one of my employees for help, so Suhara, I’ll need you to stay and help me; there’s a few sets of scrubs in the storage closet, one of them should fit you. The rest of you can head back to my house and relax. The Wi-Fi password is Rover-first R is capital-and you’re free to anything in the kitchen; there’s not much, I really need to go to the store.”

“Are you sure there’s nothing else we can help with?” Asked Carmen.

Bobcat shook her head. “No, I think we’re good here. Don’t worry; he’s in good hands.”

Bobcat’s house had a distinctly country feel to it. The living room had two couches, a fireplace, and a few bookshelves, but still felt spacious. Despite the very good internet connection she had, Bobcat didn’t own a TV.

When the entered the house, a long-furred collie came to greet them. A calico cat sat on a high shelf, intrigued by the visitors, but not enough to climb down and see them.

The first thing Zack did when he entered was head to the kitchen. After all, Bobcat _did _say to help themselves to anything in the kitchen. She hadn’t been lying when she said there wasn’t much in there, though. While digging through the cabinets, Zack stumbled upon what he assumed to be a Tupperware container full of jerky and took it back to the living room with him.

As he ate, the collie didn’t take her eyes off him for even a second.

He turned to Ivy. “Why do you think she keeps staring at me like that?”

“Probably because you’re eating her treats.” Said Ivy, pointing out the words ‘dog treats’ written on the container in permanent marker.

“Oh.” He tossed the dog a treat but didn’t stop eating them himself.

A while later, Bobcat and Shadow-San came inside the farmhouse.

“His condition is stable.” Announced Bobcat. “He should be awake in a few hours. I’ve got some painkillers and antibiotics for him, but I’ll give them to you later, after I write up some dosage instructions.”

Zack turned to Carmen. “Hey, Carm, what are we going to do with him now? We brought him to a doctor, but we can’t just leave him somewhere in his condition. His communicator was busted in the fall, so he can’t call VILE to come get him, either.”

Bobcat nodded. “I’ve patched him up, but with the extent of his injuries, he still has a long road to recovery.”

“I think we’re going to have to take Dash with us.” Said Carmen. “VILE probably thinks he’s dead, so they won’t be actively looking for him, and I doubt he has anywhere left to go. We should probably get going as soon as possible. Bobcat, can we leave before he wakes up?”

“That would probably depend on how far you plan on driving, honey.” Replied the vet. “Where are you planning on taking him?”

“Back to San Diego.” Replied Carmen. “My team and I will be able to keep an eye on him there.”

“That’s almost eighteen hours away, you’ll have to wait.” Said Bobcat. “It would be a very bad thing for him to wake up and start panicking while you’re driving down the highway, so you should wait for him to wake up. I’ll give him a sedative to keep him calm during the ride, but I can’t do that until he wakes up.”

“So, what do we do now?” Asked Ivy. “Are we just supposed to sit here and wait for Dash to wake up?”

"Pretty much.” Replied Bobcat. “But I will need one or two of you to keep an eye on him until he wakes up. I want to talk with Suhara for a bit since I haven’t seen him in quite a while, then I need to get the dosing instructions written for you, so I can’t stay with him myself. Like I said before, his condition is stable and he won’t die on you, but I don’t want him waking up alone and panicking.”

Zack and Ivy agreed to keep an eye on Dash, and headed back to the clinic, Zack still snacking on dog treats. Bobcat and Shadow-San went upstairs to talk in private, leaving Carmen alone with the collie. She didn’t mind the dog-the collie was a very sweet animal-she just felt awkward not being able to help.

Although she wasn’t exactly friends with Dash, she still worried about him. He had almost died earlier, and now he was in a strange place, surrounded by people he considered to be enemies. It was going to be a mess when he woke up.

About half an hour later, Shadow-San came downstairs, smelling of sex. They had _talked, _alright.

“Bobcat’s in her study upstairs.” He informed Carmen. “If Zack or Ivy come in saying that Dash has woken up, go get her. I am going to take a shower.”

“Hey, Shadow-San, just one question before you go.” Said Carmen. “Why did Bobcat fake her death and leave VILE in the first place? She always seemed like a great operative.”

“She was.” He told her. “Originally, she was satisfied with her life as an operative; she always said crime felt like a natural path. Seven years ago, there was an incident on an assignment she was on that ended in the death of an operative. This, and the events that followed caused her to become disillusioned with VILE. I knew she had plans to leave, but I had no idea she would actually go through with it, especial considering what could happen if VILE were to find out she was still alive.”

“How did you know she faked her death?” Asked Carmen. “And how did you track her down?”

“I was the one sent to destroy the evidence of her supposed death.” He explained. “The corpse I found wearing Bobcat’s clothes was not her own. Nevertheless, I burned the place to the ground. I told no one of my findings.

“As for finding where she had gone, that was very difficult. Bobcat is an identity thief; I do not know her real name, only that it was not Victoria Pride, the name she had enrolled under. Using the information she had told me over the years about her past, I was able to narrow down my search area. I used various online resources to track down her new identity but hadn’t contacted her until now. Do not tell Bobcat about this conversation; if she feels too much is known about her by too many people, she will disappear again.”

Carmen didn’t know much about the incident that had happened seven years ago, only that it had happened. She had only been thirteen at the time, and everybody simply told her that she was too young to understand.

Dash looked so much different without his makeup; Zack had noticed.

While examining him, Bobcat had scrubbed his face clean of makeup, revealing the dark circles under his eyes, and the pale, unhealthy complexion of his skin. Zack could tell that even before he was injured, Dash wasn’t in the best of shape physically.

Zack and Ivy had been watching Dash for almost two hours. Just as Zack was about to go ask Bobcat why Dash hadn’t woken up yet, the unconscious man began to stir.

Dash had met Zack before, and although he’d never met Ivy, he did know she worked for Carmen Sandiego. Naturally, when surrounded by the teammates of his sworn enemy, he began to panic. He was too weak to get up on his own, but he still struggled to get away, falling off the exam table in his distressed state, and crying out in pain when he landed on his already broken arm.

“You go get Bobcat.” Zack told his sister. “I’ll stay here and make sure he doesn’t hurt himself.”

As Ivy ran back to the house, Zack pinned Dash to the ground, taking care not to agitate any of the other man’s injuries.

Once Bobcat had returned to the clinic, they were able to get Dash calmed down enough for Bobcat to look him over once more and ask him a few questions. He was now situated on one of the couches in the clinic’s waiting room, wrapped in a blanket.

“So, how do you feel?” Asked Bobcat, shining a light in his eyes to check for a concussion. Thankfully, his pupils appeared to be normal.

“What the hell do you think?” He snapped. “First, I fall about ten feet onto concrete, and when I wake up, I’m surrounded by people I either hate or don’t know. Why hasn’t VILE found me yet?”

Bobcat placed a hand on Dash’s shoulder. “Sweetheart, I understand that you’re scared and in pain, but there’s really no need for that tone. VILE doesn’t know you survived, and since your communicator was busted in the fall, you can’t call them yourself. You’re in no condition to leave here on you own, so you’re going to have to leave with these folks.

“If I were you, I would take this opportunity to leave VILE and start a new life. You’re still young, so much younger than I was when I finally escaped that awful place. To VILE, operatives are not people, but disposable objects to be used. I know you probably joined to escape a bad situation-I sure as hell did-but now you have a chance to live life the way you want.”

“If I have no other choice, I will go with them.” He sighed, too exhausted to argue. “But the second I’m well enough, I’m leaving.”

“You’ll change your mind, honey.” She chuckled. “I guarantee it.”

Before they left, Bobcat handed them a few bottles of pills along with her dosing instructions. Dash had agreed to taking a sedative for the ride back, mostly because of how stressed and tired he was.

While Dash was a bit warry of Zack and Ivy, he was downright fearful of Carmen and Shadow-San, refusing to let either of them help him or even touch him.

Leaning heavily on Zack, Dash limped his way to the car. Zack helped him into the front passenger seat, knowing it would be more comfortable for the injured man than sitting in the back. Dash still kept the blanket wrapped around himself, more for comfort than warmth.

“You warm enough?” Zack asked as he turned on the car. “I can turn on the heat if-“

“I’m fine!” Snapped Dash. “Just leave me alone.”

Dash fell asleep within fifteen minutes of them leaving and stayed asleep for the entire ride.

The news of Dash’s death had come hours ago, but to Countess Cleo it still felt fresh. Carmen Sandiego may not have known what line she had crossed by ending the life of Dash Haber, but she would pay nevertheless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got this updated way faster than I though I would.
> 
> Next, I'll be working on a chapter of the companion fic, 'Bits and Pieces' that goes a little more in depth about Bobcat and her relationship with Shadow-San, that should be up within a week.  
I don't own the images used in this fic, they're all stock images from google.


	3. Not so different

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dash begins to get a little more used to Team Red, and realizes that he and Zack aren't so different after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warnings for this chapter: None

For years, Dash’s existence had been Countess Cleo’s dirty little secret. In fact, had he never enrolled in VILE academy in the first place, she may have never given him another thought. If it hadn’t been for Dash’s adoptive parents seeing it no longer fit to take care of him after they stopped being paid to, she may have never seen the son she was forced to abandon again.

Although she would have liked him to simply disappear, she hadn’t wanted Dash to die. Mistake or not, he was still her child. She had done everything in her power to make him a success, including convincing the other Head Faculty members to pass him, even though he should have failed. She made him her personal assistant so that she could directly oversee him. She treated him harshly because she wanted to make him stronger, and because it kept her from getting too attached.

Few people knew about her secret, even Dash didn’t know about his true paternity and still thought that he had been adopted from Russia. Safe for most of the other Head Faculty Members, the Cleaners, and a few of VILE’s medical staff. Even if Carmen Sandiego had no idea of what she had done when she killed Dash, she would still pay.

Getting Dash inside without waking him was easy, the challenge, however, came when he woke up. Dash had immediately panicked upon waking but had calmed down a bit when he remembered what had happened but was still a bit on edge. He was also fairly moody, and while Carmen knew he was in pain and probably scared, his behavior was still getting on her nerves.

They had decided to have Dash sleep on the couch, partially because it was easier to keep an eye on him, and partially because none of the spare rooms were furnished. At all times, someone was keeping an eye on him, usually Zack or Ivy since they had the most time. They didn’t even trust Dash to handle his medicine himself; while they gave him the antibiotics when they were supposed to, he had to practically beg for the painkillers.

Because of the sorry state of his current outfit, Dash ended up having to borrow some clothes from Zack. Despite being about three inches taller, Dash was around the same size, if a bit slimmer, than the other man. Dash wasn’t particularly happy with the t-shirt and sweatpants Zack had loaned him, but at least they weren’t covered in blood or torn to bits.

By the time they had gotten home and got everything set with Dash, it was almost dinner time. Since nobody felt like preparing food, Zack ran out to Burger King to pick up dinner for everyone. He didn’t know what Dash liked, and since he had fallen back asleep at that point, he ended up just getting the other man a burger meal.

When presented with the food, Dash turned up his nose in disgust.

“I’m not hungry.” He told Zack. “And even if I was, I don’t eat red meat. Would it have killed you to ask about my dietary restrictions before you decided that I wanted a hamburger? I mean, what if I was allergic to something and you served it to me without telling me? I could have died.”

“Do you have any food allergies?” Zack deadpanned.

“No, but it’s the principle of the thing.” Dash replied. “Next time you’re going out for food, please bother to ask me what I _want_.”

Zack sighed, knowing there wasn’t much use in arguing. “Fine, I’m sorry; next time I’ll ask you. In my defense, you were asleep, and I didn’t want to wake you up. If you get hungry later on, just tell me and I’ll make you a sandwich.”

Dash kind of felt bad about snapping at Zack, especially considering how the other man had been trying his best to take care of him and had put up with a fair amount of yelling.

“I’m sorry.” He muttered.

Zack gave him a blank look. “Huh?”

“I’m sorry I haven’t been too nice to any of you lately.” He replied. “You could have just left me there to die, and I guess I should try and be more grateful.”

“Oh, its no problem.” Said Zack. “If we’re gonna be the good guys, we can’t go around leaving people to die, even if they’re VILE operatives.”

When Zack had mentioned VILE, it got Dash thinking. He wondered if anyone had even acknowledged his absence; he was never one to make a big impact on people and didn’t really have any friends from either his time as a student or his time as an operative. Countess Cleo had probably even found a new assistant already.

“Hey, you okay?”

Dash hadn’t realized he spaced out until Zack started calling out to him.

“Just thinking about VILE.” He replied before quickly changing the subject. “You said you would make me a sandwich, correct?”

Zack nodded. “Sure. Any particular kind of sandwich you would like?”

He shrugged, not really knowing what kind of sandwich ingredients Team Red had. “Surprise me. As long as it doesn’t contain red meat, and isn’t overly unhealthy or greasy, I don’t care.”

“That works; I can total make you something you’ll eat.”

About fifteen minutes later, Zack came back with a grilled sandwich and handed the plate to Dash.

“It’s a grilled turkey and cheese.” He told him. “I added turkey because you could probably use some protein, and I grilled it because everything tastes better when its cooked. I mean, I hate potatoes, but when you cook them into French fries, they become so delicious.”

“Thanks.”

Dash looked at the sandwich. It had been quite a while since he had a homemade sandwich or any homemade food at all. Besides the fancy dinners he sometimes attended with Countess Cleo, his meals usually consisted of something quick he picked up at a café, providing he had time to eat at all. The last time he’d made a meal himself was probably before he joined VILE.

Zack noticed the way he was looking at his food. “Anything wrong with it? I mean, I’m pretty sure turkey isn’t a red meat, but I didn’t look it up. Don’t worry; I didn’t poison it or anything like that.”

Dash shook his head. “No, there’s nothing the matter with it; I just haven’t had homemade food in a while.”

“Well, its not the fancy stuff you’re used to, but its food.” Replied Zack. “I’m no five-star chef, but I can make a pretty good grilled turkey and cheese.”

“No, I don’t have a problem with it being ordinary.” Said Dash. “I actually like homemade food; I just never have time to make it.”

“We usually have homemade meals, so that shouldn’t be a problem.” Zack told him. “We get take out if we’re really busy and don’t have time to cook anything, but I’ll make sure that next time I get you a salad or a veggie burger instead.”

Dash stared at the sandwich uncertainly. For a minute, he was afraid that Zack had actually poisoned it, but reassured himself that he was just being paranoid and took a bite.

Dash hadn’t expected much from a sandwich Zack had made in fifteen minutes, but it tasted amazing. He had visited a gourmet panini restaurant, just to try it out since it was super trendy at the time and gotten a similar sandwich. Zack’s sandwich by far beat out that glorified grilled cheese and chicken breast that he had paid almost ten dollars for.

“So, how is it?” Zack asked him.

He shrugged. “Not bad at all.”

If he was being honest, it was probably the best sandwich he had tasted in years, but he wasn’t going to tell Zack that, as the other man would probably be a bit annoying if he received that kind of compliment.

“I’m glad you liked it.” Said Zack. “I do most of the cooking around here, but I’m sort of stuck with whatever ingredients Ivy and Carm buy at the grocery store. Ivy say’s I’m not _responsible enough _to go grocery shopping, just because last time I did I bought a cart full of junk food. I was younger and stupid back then; if she only trusted me to do it now, that probably wouldn’t happen again.”

Dash really hadn’t been too hungry, and only managed to eat one half of the sandwich. Zack, who had already eaten one (possible two if he’d eaten the meal Dash didn’t want) Burger King meal, asked Dash if he was done with the sandwich, and after Dash confirmed that he wasn’t going to eat it, practically swallowed the half a sandwich whole.

Dash rolled his eyes. Zack was pretty much a bottomless pit.

“So, I gotta ask, is the not eating red meat thing some weird thing rich people do to stay looking good?” Asked Zack. “Because I heard red meat wasn’t really good for you and could clog up your blood vessels and stuff. I know I shouldn’t eat as much of it as I do, but hey, that’s whoever invented the bacon cheeseburger’s fault.”

“Not eating red meat wasn’t a choice for me; its more of a food aversion.” He explained. “If I eat it, it makes me sick. I can’t even stand the smell of it being cooked. Its sort of like an allergy, but it’s the flavor and smell that affect me; not the meat itself.”

Zack gave I nod. “I totally understand it; I’m the same way about fish. I’ll try to avoid bringing any red meat around while you’re here.”

Back at VILE, nobody was respectful of Dash’s aversion to red meat. When he was still attending VILE academy, after learning about this, a few students that weren’t particularly fond of him would try and sneak red meat into his food when he wasn’t looking. He never told any of the Head Faculty members about this, as he was already unpopular and didn’t want to be labeled as a snitch.

It didn’t get better after he graduated and became Countess Cleo’s personal assistant, either, as even though he no longer had to constantly keep an eye on his food, his aversion was still treated like a weakness. Countess Cleo had tried multiple times to make him get over it, saying that it was all in his head and was making him weak, but it never worked and eventually she gave up. If anything, she had made his aversion stronger.

“Well, I’m going to take a shower.” Said Zack. “Do you need anything before I go?”

Dash was still too weak to get up on his own. Having broken his dominant arm hadn’t helped either, as he wasn’t used to using his left arm to complete the tasks he usually did with his right arm, much less being forced to use it exclusively.

“My arm and ribs are hurting again, could you maybe grab me a painkiller?” Asked Dash.

“Sure.” Replied Zack.

He disappeared into the kitchen and came back with a glass of water and one of the pills Bobcat had given them for Dash. He handed both items to Dash and walked off to take his shower.

Dash didn’t know what kind of pills Bobcat had given him (Since Team Red wouldn’t let him hold on to them himself, he hadn’t been able to read the bottle), but they sure were effective. Within a few minutes of taking the pill, his pain was gone, and his eyes grew heavy. He fell asleep not long after.

The next morning, Carmen, Ivy, and Shadow-San were all getting ready to leave, and Zack and Dash had no idea why.

“What are you guys even doing?” Asked Zack. “That looks like too much stuff for a shopping trip.”

“We’re heading to Italy to deal with VILE.” Said Carmen. “I thought we told you.”

“Cool, just give me a second and-“

Ivy stopped him. “You’re not going with us this time, bro. Somebody needs to stay here with Dash, and they need my mechanical knowledge for this one.”

“Why can’t you just install cameras or something?” Asked Zack.

“We do have cameras.” Replied Carmen. “We installed them a while ago.”

“The cameras would only allow us to monitor Haber; there would be nobody around to physically stop him from contacting VILE.” Said Shadow-San. “Besides, he is still too weak to be on his own for more than a short period of time.”

Zack was disappointed, but he didn’t push the issue further, knowing it would only get him in trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next I'm doing a chapter of Bits and Pieces (you can probably guess what it will be about, lol), should be up within a week.


	4. Alone Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With everyone else gone on a caper, Zack is left alone with Dash.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings for this chapter: physical illness, vomiting.

For the first few days after everyone else had left, everything was fine between Zack and Dash. Dash was getting far more comfortable around Zack, and the two of them spent a lot of time talking or watching movies together. Zack had even taught Dash how to play Super Smash Bros.

But then, Dash suddenly started to go back to the way he had been at first; moody and apprehensive.

Zack woke up one morning and walked into the living room to find Dash still lying on the couch under the blankets. At first, Zack had thought the other man was still asleep, but when he removed the covers, he found that Dash was wide awake.

Zack put a hand on the other man’s shoulder. “Hey, you up? What do you want for breakfast?”

Dash shoved his hand away. “I’m not hungry. Leave me alone!”

Zack chuckled. “Well, _somebody_ woke up on the wrong side of the bed-er, couch. I’ll ask you again in a few hours when you’re a little more awake. Do you want to watch some TV? I also bought you some fashion magazines I thought you might like while I was out, I could grab you one of those if you want.”

Dash pulled the blanket over his head. “I didn’t sleep too well last night, and I have a headache. Just go away and let me sleep.”

“Okay, but do you want an ibuprofen before you go to sleep?” Zack asked him. “It would help your head.”

Dash poked his head out from under the blanket. “Sure.”

Zac nodded and headed towards the kitchen and came back a few minutes later with a glass of water and a bottle of ibuprofen, along with the antibiotics Dash was supposed to take that morning. Before handing over the water and pills, he placed a hand on the other man’s forehead.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” Dash tried unsuccessfully to push Zack’s hand away. “Just give those to me and leave me alone!”

“You feel a bit warm.” Said Zack, removing his hand, and handing Dash the pills and water. “I’ll let you sleep for now, but if you get any worse, I’m gonna call Bobcat; I have her number and she offered to catch a flight down here if anything happens with you since Carm paid her so well.”

“I’m fine.” He muttered. “Its just a headache; I’ll feel better once I get some sleep.”

Zack gave him a look of concern but left the room without another word.

Zack wanted to let Dash sleep, and decided it wait until the other man called out to him. A couple hours later, however, the sound of retching followed by sobbing send him running into the living room.

Dash had been too weak to get up and ended up vomiting on the floor next to the couch. When Zack found him, he was curled up on the couch, sobbing.

“I’m sorry, Countess; I’m trying my best.” He said between sobs. “I’ll get stronger, I promise. I won’t let your efforts go to waste.”

Zack immediately ran over to him.

“Countess Cleo isn’t here; you’re gonna be okay.” He said, putting an arm around Dash. “I’m not mad at you; its not your fault, you’re sick.”

It took a while, but Zack was able to calm Dash down. The sick man was exhausted and fell back to sleep soon after.

With a sigh, Zack got up to deal with the mess. After he had gotten the floor cleaned up, he grabbed a bucket just in case Dash was going to be sick again.

Checking that Dash was still asleep, Zack went into the other room to call Bobcat.

A woman who’s voice he didn’t recognize answered the phone. “Grand Valley Animal Hospital, Grace speaking, how may I help you?”

“Hi, I need speak with Dr. Church.” He told her. “It’s really important.”

Bobcat had told him to ask for Amelia Church, the identity she was currently using, when he called in case the wrong person picked up. He didn’t know what she meant by that, as even her receptionist was apparently in on her _side jobs_. He just assumed that being a former VILE operative, she was a little on the paranoid side.

The receptionist’s tone quickly changed. “You have _business _with Dr. Church, I presume. I’ll transfer your call to her line in the back. Please hold.”

After a few minutes of on hold music, Bobcat finally picked up.

“My receptionist didn’t give me a name, and this number isn’t even from an area code I recognize.” She said to him. “State your name and business before I decide to hang up on you.”

“It’s Zack; from the middle of the night about a week ago.” He told her. “I think there’s something wrong with Dash.”

“What happened?” Asked Bobcat, sounding much more sympathetic than before. “Is he in a lot of pain?”

“He’s sick.” Replied Zack. “He said he didn’t sleep well last night, and he had a headache and fever. He threw up a little while ago, too.”

“Hmm, that sounds like influenza.” Said Bobcat. “But since he was injured, I wouldn’t rule out some type of infection. I’ll be on the next flight over; better safe than sorry. Anything you need me to pick up on my way?”

Zack had a few things he would have liked her to bring, but before he could list them off, he heard the sound of Dash being sick again.

“I have to go; I think he just puked again.” Zack told her. “If you think of anything he might need, get that, but otherwise, don’t worry about it.”

“Keep a close eye on him until I get there.” Instructed Bobcat. “If he shows any symptoms that are specific to sepsis and not influenza-such as rapid breathing, fast heart rate, and confusion-or anything else that you think is concerning, just shoot me an email; I won’t be able to take calls on the plane.”

By the time Zack hung up the phone, and made his way into the living room, Dash was no longer throwing up, but had broken into a coughing fit. Zack, having no idea what to do, awkwardly watched until Dash was no longer coughing, before walking over.

“Would you like some more water or something?” He asked. “I think Shadow-San has some tea somewhere, so I can try to find some of that if you would prefer.”

“Water is fine.” Replied Dash, his voice sounding hoarse.

Zack nodded, took Dash’s empty glass to the kitchen to fill it, and returned about a minute later before handing it over. Dash didn’t say anything, but Zack wasn’t expecting any words of thanks from the other man when he was in such a state.

“I called Bobcat.” He told Dash. “She said its probably influenza, but with your injuries it could be an infection, so she’s on her way. Since she’s flying in, she’ll probably be here in three to four hours, depending how long it takes her to get through security.”

“You didn’t have to call her.” Muttered Dash. “I’m fine.”

Zack really didn’t want to argue. “Either way, she’s coming. It will give her a chance to check on your injuries as well.”

Dash sighed, exhausted. “Fine I guess we’ll see her in a few hours.”

“You should try and get some rest.” Said Zack. “I’ll be in the other room if you need anything.”

As he got up to leave, Zack felt a tug at his shirt.

“Don’t leave.” Rasped Dash. “I just, don’t want to be alone right now.”

Zack gave a nod. “Just let me grab my Switch and I'll stay with you for as long as you need.”

Without another word, Zack headed to his room to grab his Switch, came back with the system in hand, and sat down on the other couch. Dash didn’t say anything, just wrapped the blankets tightly around himself, and laid back down.

By the time Bobcat landed in San Diego, it was already dark. Since the airport was fairly close to Team Red’s hideout, and since she wasn’t about to pay for a taxi to drive three blocks, she decided to walk.

At one point in her journey, after trying to take a shortcut, Bobcat found herself in a dark alley. Suddenly, she was approached by three burly men. Knowing what was about to happen, she smirked. Even at her current age, she always enjoyed a good fight.

“Can I help you gentlemen?” She asked, looking around in case they had backup somewhere.

One of the men, the one she assumed to be the leader, brandished a knife. “Yeah, you can go ahead and hand over your wallet, phone, and any jewelry you have.”

Bobcat chuckled. “You should be kinder to your elders. I’ll give you one chance to back off and leave, even though I know you won’t take it.”

The men moved in closer, and the leader pointed his knife at her throat.

“I want your money, not your life.” He told her. “But I won’t hesitate to take both if you don’t cooperate.”

Bobcat took a fighting stance. “Alright, you asked for it.”

Bobcat wasn’t exactly tall or muscular looking, and to someone who didn’t know her, she looked like a normal woman in her fifties. Unfortunately for her would-be muggers, she had never forgotten her VILE training, and exercised every day.

The fight was extremely one-sided. Bobcat took down all three men in a matter of minutes, without receiving so much as a scratch herself. After she had thoroughly beaten them with ease, they stared at her from the ground, in complete shock and awe.

“They sure don’t make crooks like they used to.” Chuckled Bobcat, relieving the men of their wallets, phones, weapons, and shoes. “Well, you three can’t say I didn’t give you a chance to leave.”

“Who _are _you?” Gasped the leader.

“Just someone who’s been in the game probably since before you little punks were born.” She told him. “Respect your elders; they know better than to get into shit they can’t handle.”

The shoes were in pretty good condition, so she threw them into a donation bin as she passed. She went through the wallets, tossed the credit cards, but kept the money and IDs. She liked to collect the IDs of those who dared to cross her and had a box full of them at home. The phones she also tossed. The only thing she couldn’t think of how to dispose up without causing issue was the weapons, so she decided to keep them with her for the time being.

Zack hadn’t realized that he had dozed off until he was awoken by a knock at the door. Knowing it was probably Bobcat, he stood up to wake Dash.

“Wake up.” He said, shaking the sleeping man. “I think Bobcat’s here.”

Dash groaned. “I don’t feel well; let me sleep.”

Zack forced Dash into a sitting position. “She’s here _because_ you’re sick. I have to go get the door; don’t fall back asleep just yet.”

Zack walked to the door and opened it for Bobcat.

“Sorry I’m late; some guys attempted to mug me.” She told him. “Key word here is _attempted_; you can take Bobcat out of VILE, but you can’t take VILE out of Bobcat. Anyways, do you have any use for three empty wallets, two switch blades, and a huge buck knife?”

Zack stared at her. “Uh, sure?”

“Great!” She handed him the wallets and the weapons. “Now, where’s my patient?”

He led her to the living room where Dash was. Dash had laid back down but hadn’t fallen asleep.

Bobcat knelt down next to him. “Hey, sweetheart, how are you feeling?”

“Terrible.” Groaned Dash, not having the energy to be snarky. “My head hurts and I’ve thrown up twice.”

Bobcat nodded sympathetically. “Okay, honey, from your symptoms, I’m guessing its just the flu, but I want to check your wounds in case you have an infection. I’m gonna need you to strip down to your underwear so I can look you over. Can you do that on your own, or do you need a hand?”

Dash all but gasped. “What? No! I’m not stripping down in front of you!”

She sighed. “Believe me, honey, I’ve seen a few naked and almost naked bodies in my life. Not to mention, I had to cut most of your clothes off when I first stitched you up. Now, either you strip down, or I’ll pin you down and do it myself.”

Dash sighed, but stripped down to his boxers without another word, as he could tell Bobcat was completely serious.

Bobcat silently looked over his wounds, before standing up and giving a nod.

“Your wounds are healing up nicely.” She told Dash. “In a month or so, that cast should be ready to come off, too. You can get dressed now.”

Dash shot her a weak glare and proceeded to put back on his clothes.

“So, he’s just got the flu?” Asked Zack.

Bobcat nodded. “For now, he just needs rest and fluids. In the long run, I would suggest he gains a few pounds, and maybe starts taking a multivitamin.” She turned to Dash. “When was the last time you had a flu shot?”

“A few years ago.” He told her. “I haven’t had a lot of time, and VILE doesn’t give the flu shot with our yearly checkups, since they don’t think its as important as the other ones.”

“I suggest you get a flu shot as soon as you can.” Said Bobcat. “I bought a few things on my way here to help you recover; some cough medicine, a few cans of soup, some ginger tea to help with the nausea, that kind of stuff.” She handed Zack a paper shopping bag. “Well, I have to get going. Call me if you need anything else.”

She walked out before they could even say goodbye.

A few hours later, after Dash was feeling a bit better, and had fallen back to sleep, thanks to the cough medicine, Zack called Carmen and the others on Skype.

Carmen answered the call, looking a bit tired. “Hey, Zack! How are you two doing?”

“Dash has the flu.” He told her. “Bobcat was here a few hours ago; I called her since I was concerned his wounds might have gotten infected.”

Shadow-San suddenly appeared in the frame. “How is she doing?”

“Pretty good, I think.” He replied. “She said some guys tried to rob her, but as far as I can tell, she mugged the muggers.”

Shadow-San gave a slight smile. “That’s something I could see her doing; she doesn’t like to be crossed.”

“Do you think she’d be willing to help us out with VILE if we needed it?” Asked Carmen.

Shadow-San nodded. “I guarantee it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have any ideas for a Bits and Pieces chapter pertaining to this, so I'm just going to start working on the next chapter of this, which should be up within a week.
> 
> I would love if you left a comment~♥


	5. Back from the Dead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bobcat comes back from the dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warnings for this chapter: Some violence.

By the time everyone had returned from Italy, Dash was feeling a lot better, and his flu was almost gone. He had also been spending a lot more time with Zack.

“You know, I don’t think I’m going to go back to VILE.” Dash told Zack one day as they sat on the couch, watching TV together.

Zack nearly choked on the chips he was eating. “What? You want to stay with us? I thought you couldn’t wait to get back to VILE.”

Dash stared at the ground. “I only joined VILE because it was a better option than staying where I was. Even when I was only a student there, I had no friends or anyone that really cared about me. The more I think about it, I more I realize that Countess Cleo never actually cared about me like I thought she did; to her I was just an object, she’s probably even replaced me by now.

“If it hadn’t been for you four rescuing me, I would have probably died in the warehouse, and when you said you were taking me with you, I kind of expected you to lock me in a cage or something and trade me to VILE for information, but you didn’t. I’ve decided I don’t want to be a part of VILE anymore, and like Bobcat said, since I have the chance to escape, I really should take it.”

Zack nodded in agreement. “I was really hoping you would decide to stay. I can imagine how bad of a place VILE must be to work for, and after spending more time with you, I realize you’re not a bad guy at all, and don’t belong at a place like that. Now that you’re staying, we can start setting up one of the empty rooms for you, and maybe buy you some new clothes so you can stop borrowing mine.”

“I would like that.”

As excited as Zack was to have a new person living in the hideout with them, the rest of the team was less than ecstatic.

“This seems like a trick.” Said Carmen. “He’s probably just waiting for us to let our guard down, and as soon as we do, he’s going to contact VILE and tell them exactly where we are.”

“He is very likely still loyal to Countess Cleo.” Agreed Shadow-San. “While I don’t believe he injured himself on purpose in order to appeal to our humanity-although, there are quite a few operatives who I wouldn’t put it past to do such a thing-I do believe that he is opportunistic enough to use his situation to the benefit of VILE.”

“This isn’t a trick; he really doesn’t want to go back to VILE!” Protested Zack. “He told me that nobody cared about him there, and he only joined because his life before was so shitty. He would have died if it weren’t for us, and he understands that; he isn’t going to betray us.”

“Bro, he’s a VILE operative; he would have no problem lying to you.” Replied Ivy.

“If he graduated VILE academy, it means he passed Professor Maelstrom’s Tricks of the Trade class.” Added Carmen. “How to lie to people and make them trust you was day one of that class. I know he might have told you he’s changed, and while I do what to try and give him the benefit of the doubt-especially seeing as Shadow-San and I are also graduates of VILE academy-we need to continue to keep a close eye on him until we’re 100% sure he isn’t still loyal to VILE. We’re not kicking him out, but we’re not giving him full freedom, either.”

“Can we at least let him have one of the empty rooms, and buy him an actual bed so he isn’t stuck sleeping on the couch anymore?” Asked Zack. “I also think we should get him some new clothes if he’s going to be staying with us for the long term.”

“I guess so.” Replied Carmen. “But he’s not allowed to leave the building, even if you’re with him. Order the bed off the internet-use Amazon since we get 2-day shipping with the Prime account-and find out his size and style, and go out and buy his clothes while one of us is here to keep an eye on him; I’ll have Ivy install a lock and alarm on the windows of whatever room you choose for him.”

Zack sighed. They weren’t exactly welcoming towards Dash, but it was a start.

Zack knew exactly which of the empty rooms he was going to choose for Dash. It wasn’t the largest, but it got a fair amount of sunlight, and had nice hardwood floors, two features he thought the other man would appreciate.

True to her words, Carmen had Ivy install an alarm and lock on each window, even going as far as replacing the panes with reinforced glass.

Along with a bed, Zack ended up ordering Dash some other bedroom furniture, including a dresser, a bedside table, an area rug, a vanity, and a lamp. Thanks to the surplus of money that had taken from VILE on various occasions, price was no object.

“I ordered a bunch of stuff for your room.” He told Dash. “The bed will be here in like two days, so you won’t be stuck sleepin’ on the couch much longer. I’m going out to get you some new clothes tomorrow, and since I already know that you’re into fancy stuff, I just need to know what sizes you wear.”

“I’m well enough to go shopping with you.” Said Dash. “I’ve been stuck in this place for almost two weeks, and I don’t trust you to buy clothes I’ll actually wear.”

“The thing is, Carmen thinks that this is all some sort of trick so that we’ll lower our guard and you can tell VILE where we are.” Replied Zack. “I trust you, but nobody else does yet, and they’re not gonna let you leave the building until they’re sure you’re not gonna betray them. Plus, what if another VILE operative sees you, and tells VILE that you’re still alive.”

Dash gave a defeated sigh. “Fine, but I still don’t trust you to pick out my clothes.”

“We could order them off the internet.” Suggested Zack. “That way, you can still pick out your own clothes, and still not leave the building. I’ll go ask Carmen if that’s okay.”

Carmen was fine with the idea, but under one condition.

“I’m going to have Player monitor the computer remotely while he’s using it.” She told Zack. “I don’t trust him not to try and contact VILE, and Player can kill the power on the computer if he tries to do so.”

Zack knew that if anything, arguing would only result in Carmen changing her decision to not letting Dash use the computer at all, so he kept his mouth shut.

When they first moved into the hideout, Carmen had allowed Zack and Ivy to purchase an expensive gaming computer. Because of how busy they were, and because of how many other gaming devices they had, the computer was mostly used for ordering things online.

“Carmen says you can use the computer to order clothes, but since she doesn’t trust you, she’s having Player-our tech guy-monitor what your doing.” Zack told Dash. “Don’t worry about cost; we’ve taken so much money from VILE that we don’t know what to do with it.”

“So, it’s no issue if I stick with the designer labels, I’ve grown accustomed to?” Asked Dash. “I’m sure you saw how much some of these items go for when you were in Milan.”

“Seriously, spend as much as you want.” He replied. “Carmen may not be your biggest fan, but I know she’d much rather have this money being spent on expensive clothes than still be sitting in VILE’s accounts.”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you about how expensive this is going to be.” Said Dash, sitting down in the computer chair.

While Dash always had fairly nice clothes growing up, they had been far from designer. He had only started wearing designer labels after becoming Countess Cleo’s assistant. The Countess always had certain high expectations of him, including the way he dressed. She would only allow him to wear clothes from certain designer labels, most of which she had carefully selected herself.

As Dash began to add items to the virtual cart, the total quickly began to grow. Zack, who had been watching over Dash’s shoulder, was surprised with how expensive some of the items were. He didn’t say anything, however, as Team Red certainly had money to burn.

“Can I buy some makeup, too?” Asked Dash. “I know I won’t being going anywhere for a while, but I like to wear it.”

Dash had been wearing makeup since before he had even joined VILE. He had bought some while he was still in high school but had only worn it in secret at that point, as he was afraid of what people might think. After high school, when he was more confident, he finally started wearing it out in public.

Zack gave a nod. “Sure, go right ahead. And if there’s anything else you want, get that, too.”

Dash picked out a bunch of expensive cosmetics and added them to the cart as well. He also decided to get a new sketchbook, some sketching pencils, a set of the Copic markers he usually used for fashion design, a new pair of knitting needles, and a few skeins of yarn (100% wool, of course, as he was allergic to the acrylic stuff).

Zack looked at the items Dash had selected. “You knit?”

“Surprisingly enough, I do have hobbies.” He replied. “I’ve been knitting for years; it keeps me busy in my down time and allows me a creative outlet along with sewing and outfit design. Of course, I won’t be able to knit again until this cast comes off.”

“You need both your arms to knit, right?”

Dash nodded. “Since I’m right-handed, I won’t be able to design outfits until then, either.”

The worst storm of the year decided to come right as Carmen and her gang was supposed to head out to a caper. All planes had been grounded until the weather improved, and if she were to try and make the drive to Wyoming to shut down VILE’s illegal mining operation, there was no way she’d get there in time.

Carmen looked at her teammates with a sigh. “Great, we haven’t even left the hideout, and VILE has already won.”

“We’ll think of something.” Said Ivy. “We always do.”

“What about Bobcat?” Asked Zack. “Shadow-San said she could probably help us if we needed it. She lives in the middle of the country, so she can still fly without having to worry about the storm, and even if she decides to drive, she’s only a couple of miles away.”

“That might not be the best idea.” Replied Shadow-San. “Bobcat and I, we are very different people, and while I know she would be more than willing to help us out, the outcome may be far from favorable.”

“But she was a very good VILE operative; you even said so yourself.” Argued Carmen. “Zack told me about how she dealt with those muggers, so we know she still knows how to fight.”

“It is not Bobcat’s safety that I fear for.” Said Shadow-San. “She has spent much of her life as a VILE operative and has become completely numb to the idea of killing. She had killed a large number of people while working for VILE, and I don’t doubt that she has killed again since. If Bobcat were to feel that any aspect of her life was in danger, she wouldn’t think twice about killing a VILE operative.”

Carmen thought about her friends back from her VILE days. Sure, they were on different sides now, but she would never forgive herself if something happened to them and it was her fault. Still, if she wanted to foil VILE’s illegal mining operation, she didn’t have much of a choice.

“We don’t have much of a choice.” She told them. “If we want to stop VILE, we’re going to have to ask Bobcat for help, tell her not to cause serious harm to any VILE operatives, and trust that she’ll listen to us.”

“As much as I want to trust Bobcat, I still fear she will end up killing someone.” Said Shadow-San. “Her nature is, and always has been, personal survival. She would much rather kill another human being than risk her own life.”

Bobcat had been having a fairly normal day, until she received a phone call on her line in the back. This time, she recognized the number.

“Well, hello.” She answered. “I assume Dash has recovered from influenza at this point, and since his wounds are healing up nicely, I’m guessing its somebody else you’re calling for this time.”

“Nobodies injured this time.” Replied Carmen, from the other side of the call. “But we do need your help. You might be aware of this already, but there’s a huge tropical storm over California right now, and all flights are canceled until further notice, which means we won’t be able to get to Wyoming in time to stop VILE’s illegal mining operation.

“Since you’re pretty close, and if you did want to fly, the storm isn’t affecting you, we wanted to know if you could help us this time, since you were a VILE operative for a good part of your life, and know what you’re doing. We would, of course, pay you for your time.”

Bobcat chuckled. “I may be old, but that doesn’t mean I’ll pass up a chance for some action. Email me the details, honey, and I’ll get it done as soon as I work out which of my employees will be covering for me while I’m gone.”

“Before we send you the information, I have one condition for you to agree to.” Said Carmen.

“And what would that be, sweetheart?”

“You can’t kill anybody.” Replied Carmen. “I know its probably instinctual at this point from all your years spent as a VILE operative, but some of the operatives you might be fighting were my friends during my days at VILE academy, and I don’t want you to kill them.”

“Fine; I won’t kill anyone. Because of my medical background, I know exactly what injuries are fatal, and can avoid escalating them to that point.”

“Shadow-San says he needs to speak with you.” Carmen told her. “He says he needs to clarify something, so I’m passing the phone to him.”

There were a few seconds of silence, before she heard Shadow-San on the other line.

“Bobcat, you are not to inflict any permanent injuries, either.” He told her. “Do not kill anyone does not mean you can cause permanent damage so long as you leave them alive; they must be able to recover from whatever wounds you leave them within a reasonable amount of time.”

“Oh, you know me so well, Suhara.” Replied Bobcat. “Had you not said anything, I probably would’ve left them alive, but not in a good state. I’ll try to keep the damage to a minimum. Well, I guess I’ll talk to you later.”

“Goodbye.”

As Bobcat hung up the phone, she was actually pretty excited about the chance to take down some VILE operatives. While she had been in multiple fights since leaving VILE, her opponents had always been weak or unskilled at fighting, and she missed fighting to her full potential.

Having sorted out the details of which of her employees would be in charge while she was gone, Bobcat headed to her basement to gather what she would need.

Because she had been told not to kill, she did not bring her pistol, instead opting for the tranquilizer gun she often used on big animals. Bobcat had usually relied on her finesse and hand-to-hand combat skills during her years as an operative, but she always liked to have a backup plan. She also brought some strong ropes, and a few pairs of handcuffs that she had around, figuring she could immobilize the operatives if she needed to.

Because bringing her weapons on an airplane would be impossible, Bobcat decided to drive instead. It would be about a four hour drive, and her only vehicle-a van she sometimes used to transport livestock-didn’t get the best gas mileage, but if she got paid as much as she did last time, it would be more than worth it.

Sneaking into the mine turned out to be surprisingly easy. The operatives guarding the place had all apparently only attended VILE academy after she had _died_, so they didn’t recognize her, and when she said she had been sent by Coach Brunt due to suspicions that ACME might know about the operation, they all assumed she was an older operative they had just never met, and let her through.

Bobcat didn’t know much about ACME. When she had originally left VILE, nobody had even heard of such an organization, but according to Carmen, ACME had been trying to hunt down VILE for almost 20 years, and she could have easily encountered them without knowing. Despite also wanting to take down VILE, Carmen apparently had a deep dislike for them.

Bobcat’s objective fell into the category of easier said than done. She was supposed to damage the main generator of the mine in a way that it could not be fixed and would have to be completely replaced. This, in turn, would render VILE’s mining equipment useless, and cause them to abandon the mine altogether, at least for the time being.

The operatives trusted her without question since she knew inside information about VILE and acted like she was supposed to be there. Way back in her year at VILE academy, she had been taught that stealth didn’t always involve sneaking around in the shadows; sometimes it was better to hide in plain sight. If you were confident and acted like to belonged somewhere, people would generally assume that you did. This tactic was most useful when it came to dealing with law enforcement, as cops always focused on people who seemed uncomfortable in their presence and ignored people who seemed to just be going about their day.

She knew where the generator was housed, and made her way to it, nodding in acknowledgment at the operatives she passed. Before she could get to the generator, an operative appeared seemingly out of thin air, blocking her path. He was a fairly scrawny-looking guy, and she was certain she could take him. He wore a strange metallic suit that covered his entire body, she could barely make out his eyes behind the tinted lenses.

“I haven’t seen you before.” He said simply.

“Yes, I haven’t been sent on too many assignments with younger operatives before.” She replied. “I wasn’t ever originally supposed to be sent here, but one person overhears something about ACME, and suddenly they need a veteran operative to take a look.”

“What do they call you?” He asked.

“Everyone calls me Bobcat.” She told him. He only looked to be in his early to mid-twenties, much too young to even have heard of her. “And they call you?”

“Chameleon.” He stated. That kind of explained how he appeared from nowhere. “Why are you here?”

“I already told you; someone overheard something about ACME, and they decided to send a veteran operative.” She replied. “Do you want me to tell Coach Brunt about how disrespectful you were to a higher ranking operative when I return to the Isle of VILE?”

His eyes grew wide when she mentioned the island, and he quickly pulled out his communicator.

“This is Chameleon!” He shouted into the device. “El Topo, Lonestar, Blue Jay, get to the generator now! Everyone else, pack up as much of the mining equipment and diamonds as you can, and get them out of here. We have an intruder, and with how much she seems to know about VILE, I think she’s from ACME.”

He disappeared again, but Bobcat could still see his movement from the footprints he was leaving in the dusty floor of the mine. He was able to strike her once while she was attempting to track his movement.

“Is that all you got?” She laughed. “Are you sure you ever graduated?”

Just as she had hoped, her comment riled him up a bit, and he lost some of his focus. His pattern of attack became a bit more obvious, and the next time he tried to strike, she swatted him into the wall of the mine with a little more force than she had meant to, thanks to her overestimating his weight.

She remembered being taught to never react to the taunts of an opponent during a fight. In fact, way back when she had been a student, it wasn’t uncommon to yell the most offensive things possible at your opponent while fighting, just to get them used to blocking out insults. These lessons seemed to have been lost on the younger operatives.

When Chameleon hit the wall, he became visible again, and fell to the ground, not getting up or even moving. Bobcat immediately ran over to him, and thankfully found him still breathing and not bleeding at all. She was pretty sure she had only given him a bad concussion.

Because she was busy checking on the unconscious operative, she didn’t notice the two operatives come up behind her until she felt someone much larger than her shove her to the ground. She braced herself for attack, but instead of going after her, the operative ran over to his fallen ally.

“Leo, are you okay?” He shouted to the unconscious operative. It was clear the two of them were friends. “Come on, I can’t leave ya’ here.”

He nudged the smaller man, who only groaned in response.

“I have to get him out of here.” He told the female operative who had arrived with him as he lifted the smaller man off of the ground. “Blue Jay, ya’ only need to hold her off until El Topo gets here.”

“You think I need help taking down some old ACME agent?” She chuckled. Despite being on the opposing side, Bobcat couldn’t help being impressed by the younger woman’s moxie. “I’m a year younger than you, graduated two years before you did, and was at the top of my class. You don’t need to doubt me for a second.”

Lonestar gave her a nod and ran out with Chameleon in his arms, leaving Blue Jay to fight Bobcat.

Blue Jay was fast, Bobcat hadn’t been that fast when she was in her twenties, much less now that she was in her fifties. As Bobcat fended off the younger woman’s attacks to the best of her ability, she began looking for any sort of weakness she could exploit.

She noticed that Blue Jay had a slight limp in her left leg, she assumed the operative had been a runner at some point and had sustained some type of injury that never properly healed. A lot of runners would ignore injuries they thought to be insignificant, only to cause permanent damage.

Bobcat waiting for her chance, actually allowing the operative to slice her with the sword she was using (the cut was thankfully shallow enough that it would require nothing more than a bandage) in order to get the perfect moment, and delivered a swift kick to the operatives left leg. She let out a howl of pain and fell to the ground, clutching her injured leg. Bobcat was worried that she may have actually done some permanent damage to the operative’s leg.

“You bitch!” Blue Jay screamed at her. “You and all of ACME will pay for this!”

“I’m not from ACME.” Said Bobcat. “I know of them, but not about them.”

Just as she was about to tie up the injured operative, the ground opened up, and a short but muscular man wearing claw-like gloves popped out of the hole. Bobcat assumed this was El Topo.

The operative seemed surprised by the fact that Bobcat had taken down the rest of the group so fast, but that didn’t deter him from going after her as well.

El Topo proved to be much more of a problem for her than the other operatives had been. Every time she was about to hit him, he ducked back underground. She ended up taking a few strikes from his claws as well, and while she assumed they weren’t really meant for slicing, they still left behind cuts.

She couldn’t seem to get a hit on him, and her stamina was fading fast. Seeing no other option, she pulled out her tranquilizer gun and shot him twice. He slowed down, pulling one of the darts out before falling unconscious. Bobcat cuffed him, removing his gloves before taking a look around.

Blue Jay had apparently escaped while she was fighting El Topo, and as far as she could tell, there were no other operatives around. She pulled out the second dart from the unconscious operative’s skin. She knew she had probably given him a little more of the sedative than she needed to (not nearly enough to kill him), and the effects of the drugs weren’t exactly pleasant (she had injected herself with a bit on a couple of occasions), so she knew that he wouldn’t feel great when he woke up.

Bobcat unplugged the generator, sliced every cord and wire she could find, and smashed every part that looked weak enough. Having completed her objective, she took a look around the mine. The place was abandoned; it was almost as if VILE hadn’t been there at all.

She couldn’t leave El Topo there; he wouldn’t be waking up for a while, and it looked like VILE had abandoned him. She decided that her best choice would be to take him with her.

Bobcat located the operative’s communicator and smashed it against a rock, fully aware that it had a tracking device. She quickly checked him over for any injuries, and when she found none, she searched him for weapons, tracking devices, or anything else of note, but found nothing important.

He was heavy, and she was old, but eventually she was able to drag him out of the mine and into the back of the van. With the amount of sedatives in his blood, Bobcat wasn’t worried about him waking up during the drive. She tossed a blanket over his unconscious form, hopped into the driver’s seat, and drove off.

Le Chevre wasn’t surprised when El Topo didn’t exit the mine as soon as some of the other operatives-he knew the shorter man had been sent to deal with an ACME agent-but when Blue Jay limped out of the mine, and El Topo didn’t follow, he began to get worried.

He stopped Blue Jay. “El Topo was with you! Where is he now?”

The injured operative looked around. “He didn’t get out already? I thought I was the last one still in there.”

“We have to go back for him!” Shouted Le Chevre.

“We have to get out of here.” Replied Lonestar, helping Blue Jay into a VILE vehicle. “ACME will be here any moment.”

Le Chevre protested, but he was shoved into the vehicle by Lonestar, and they drove off.

Nobody was doing much better after the hour-long ride from the mine to the hotel. Chameleon had been fading in and out of consciousness, muttering something about a bobcat, Blue Jay was still having a lot of trouble walking on her left leg (thankfully, both she and Chameleon were fairly light, and Lonestar had no trouble carrying both operatives inside), and Le Chevre was extremely angry that they had left El Topo behind, even getting into an argument that ended with him breaking Lonestar’s nose (the Texan didn’t fight back, knowing it would probably get him in trouble).

As much as Lonestar wanted to just go to bed, he knew he had to call the Head Faculty and tell them what had happened. He sat down on the bed next to a still unconscious Chameleon, pulled out his communicator, and called up Coach Brunt.

He had always been one of Brunt’s favorite operatives, partially because he was also a Texan, partial because of how obedient he was.

Coach Brunt answered her communicator, and the rest of the Head Faculty crowded in behind her.

“Lonestar!” Greeted Brunt. “I trust the mining operation is going well.”

“Er, not really.” He muttered. “There was an ACME agent, and we had to hoof it out of there with as much equipment and diamonds as we could carry. Chameleon’s got a head injury-keeps muttering about a bobcat-Blue Jay hurt her leg, and we had to leave El Topo behind.”

“A bobcat, you say? Very interesting.” Said Professor Maelstrom. “For the time being, I suggest you get some rest; I will call if I need you.”

Dr. Bellum had gone through the footage from the camera outside the mine, and sure enough, she spotted the supposedly dead former VILE operative once known as Bobcat. The woman looked a little different than she did seven years ago, but they still knew it was her.

If the former operative had joined ACME, she had to be dealt with, and Professor Maelstrom knew just the operative for the job. Pulling out his own communicator, he dialed the number.

A tired-looking man with jet black hair and a lazy eye answered.

“Howzitgoan?” He muttered, quickly putting on a pair of sunglasses to hide his lazy eye when he realized who he was talking to. “Sorry, professor, bit loused is all.”

“Crowley, I have a very important assignment for you.” He told the Scotsman. “You may remember an operative by the name of Bobcat. She was assumed to be dead, but we have just discovered her to be alive and working for ACME. Your assignment is to find her and kill her for good. Do you understand?”

Crowley was suddenly wide awake. “That wench is panbread!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, no Bits and Pieces for this chapter; the next one has two, though.  
I do not own the image I used, it is a stock image from Google.  
I would really appreciate some comments if you could~  
Next chapter will be out in a week or so.


	6. Torn Apart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crowley and Le Chevre are both hunting down Bobcat, both for their own reasons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings for this chapter: Some violence, hints of drug abuse

Lonestar was on the verge of a breakdown. Chameleon, one of his closest friends, had taken a pretty bad blow to the head, Blue Jay might have to have surgery on her leg, they had lost El Topo, and Le Chevre wouldn’t let him here the end off how all this was his fault.

In a way, it kind of was. He was supposed to be guarding the entrance of the mine, but never even questioned the intruder when she told him that she was a VILE operative. If it hadn’t been for Chameleon, he was certain they would have all been mind-wiped by now.

Ever since he graduated two years ago, Lonestar had been trying his best to be a good VILE operative, but lady luck never seemed to be in his corner. For his whole life he had always done what he was told was _right_ by whoever was in charge at that time, but nothing ever worked out for him, and frankly he was tired of it.

He was told that forcing Le Chevre into the vehicle was the right decision, as it was better to lose only one operative instead of two, but if he hadn’t put Chameleon’s safety over his assignment, they may not have had to leave El Topo behind at all. Lonestar had spent his childhood on a cattle ranch and had grown strong because of it. If he and Blue Jay had worked together there was a chance they may have taken down the intruder.

Lonestar paced around the hotel room. He was just so stressed at this point that he didn’t know what to do. A doctor had been sent to take a look at them, and would be arriving soon, but for now Lonestar was just stuck in this hotel room with his fellow VILE operatives, wondering if this was really all his fault.

“Quit wearing yourself out.” Said Blue Jay from across the room. “A lot of us are injured, and we can’t have you so exhausted that you can’t fight.”

He sat down on one of the beds obediently.

Blue Jay rolled her eyes. “Do you just do whatever people tell you to?”

He nodded. “If you do what they tell you than they can’t be mad at you.”

“Or, whatever they told you to do doesn’t work out the way they think it should and they’re still mad at you. Honestly, have a little free will once in a while. Just shut up for now; I want to sleep.”

Lonestar sighed. There was no way he was actually going to get any rest.

Bobcat had a hellish time getting an unconscious El Topo out of the back of her van and into her house. While she was really starting to feel the effects of the fight, she still somehow managed to drag him inside and down to the basement.

Bobcat used the main part of the basement to house her weapons and other illicit items, but in all the time she had lived there, she never figured out what to do with the guest suite that took up a good chunk of the area. It was a fairly nice space, but since she had three bedrooms on the top floor of her house (one she used herself, one she set up as an office, and one she kept as a guest room), she never utilized the space.

Since the suite also had its own bathroom, she figured she could keep El Topo in there for the time being. Using a locking steel collar, and a length of chain, she chained him to a metal support beam with enough length for him to reach the bathroom, but not enough for him to cause any problems. She decided to leave his handcuffs on for the time being.

Bobcat was feeling sore and exhausted, so after dragging the mattress from the bed in the guest room down for El Topo, and leaving him a glass of water, she decided it was time for some pills. Not for him of course-it wasn’t wise to try to give an unconscious person pills-but for her.

Thanks to her _side job_, she had a nice selection of painkillers available at all times. She looked through the shelf of pills bottles, as one might look through their refrigerator when deciding on something to eat, before finally deciding to take a couple of Percocet.

Bobcat didn’t know who the genius was who originally decided to mix acetaminophen and oxycodone, but she tipped her hat to them. Not long after she had taken the pills, the pain was gone and replaced with a pleasant euphoria.

She decided to head upstairs and watch a movie on her laptop. El Topo wouldn’t be waking up for a while, and even when he did, he was still well restrained, and her employees could manage to run the clinic without her for just one day longer.

In theory, Crowley would have seemed like an obvious candidate back when VILE was looking to replace Shadow-San. He had a large number of assignments under his belt, and an impressive success rate to boot. But there was a very good reason behind the fact that he hadn’t even been considered.

Crowley was a pyromaniac, and very similar to the fire he liked to utilize. He had always been unpredictable and could turn dangerous without much warning. During his first few years with VILE, he was known to have a bit of a temper and had turned violent on occasion when overpowered by anger. While he had apparently mellowed out a little over the years, almost everyone, including the head faculty, tried to avoid him whenever possible.

It wasn’t like Crowley had been born a violent person, or even that he had wanted to turn out the way he did. He’d learned long ago that if you submitted to people, they would only use you. His anger and violent tendencies came from fear and an innate need for self-preservation. If his childhood had gone differently maybe he would have grown up to be Alistair the dentist, or Alistair the flower shop owner, but instead he had grown up to be Crowley the murderer and arsonist.

While Crowley had never had a problem going for the kill (in fact, VILE usually sent him when they wanted someone dead), his desire to take Bobcat’s life was extremely strong. Roughly seven years ago, Bobcat had been sent out on an assignment along with Fallen Angle-the love of his life-and three operatives who’s names he didn’t remember. He didn’t know much about the assignment, except that it had gone horribly wrong, and Bobcat was the only one to return to the island alive. In his mind, that made her responsible; as the most senior operative, she should have done something.

He had held a grudge against the woman from the day of the incident, to the day she had allegedly died. Now that he knew she had survived, he was going to personally make sure she paid for the death of his Angel.

At a certain age, most VILE operatives stepped back to lurk in the shadows of VILE, taking on less active roles in the organization, but not Bobcat. She had been in her mid to late forties (he didn’t know her exact age) when she vanished and was still actively taking on assignments at that point. This, combined with the way she had taken down four operatives not one day earlier, told him that her death wouldn’t come easily; he would have to bring out the big guns.

He usually kept his best weapons and strongest accelerants back at his apartment in Glasgow, unless he really felt he needed them. Two of his former roommates, Moose Boy and Otter Man, were currently staying at his apartment, as they had a bit of a run in with ACME back in Stockholm and didn’t feel safe staying there. Since he really only used his place for storage, he had offered to let them stay there.

Seeing that he was currently in Budapest after a successful assignment, Crowley knew he would need a flight to Scotland if he wanted his weapons. He usually avoided using VILE’s private planes, especially if he knew it would just be him and the pilot. He preferred to be on a plane full of strangers, then stuck in a confined place with just one. Safety in numbers, he always told himself.

Using VILE’s seemingly limitless funds, he booked himself a ticket on the next flight to Glasgow.

El Topo woke up with a headache. His entire body felt stiff and sore, and he felt something cold and metallic around his neck. Slowly he began to open his eyes and take in his surroundings.

The room was entirely bare except for a mattress that looked haphazardly placed, and a glass of water nearby. The room appeared to be a bedroom, but there were no windows and more support beams than a bedroom typically had, and he wondered if he might be underground. There were two doors, he assumed one was the exit, and the other was either a bathroom or a closet.

He realized the metal around his neck was a collar, and he was chained to one of the support beams. His body protested, but he forced himself to stand up, and found he was also handcuffed. The one door the chain allowed for him to actually access was a bathroom, but he was too far from the exit to even touch the door. He couldn’t even drink the glass of water that had been left for him since his hands were cuffed.

With a defeated sigh, El Topo sat down in the mattress.

About half an hour later, his captor came downstairs to check on him. He remembered her as the woman who he’d fought in the mine and who had shot him with a dart gun. She was carrying an object that reminded him of a crackle stick.

“Oh, good, you’re awake.” She said with a smile. “You see this thing in my hand? This is called a cattle prod; they hurt like hell when you get zapped with one. I’m not giving you full freedom yet, but I would like to take off those handcuffs. You’re going to stay still and not attack me while I take those cuffs off, or else you’re getting zapped, understood?”

El Topo nodded like he agreed, but as soon as she approached, he attempted to smack her with his cuffed hands, only for her to dodge his attack and retaliate with a zap from the cattle prod. Despite his attack, she still unlocked his cuffs, but backed up a bit afterwards.

“I spent over twenty years of my life as a VILE operative.” She told him. “I can and will hurt you if I need to. VILE has no idea where you are; I smashed your communicator so they can’t track you.”

“How did you do it?” He asked her.

“Huh?”

“How did you escape VILE? Besides Shadow-San and Carmen Sandiego, everyone who has even tried has been killed.”

“In a way, I took my own life.” She told him. “I went by the name of Bobcat-You can call me that, I still use it sometime. I was sent out on a solo assignment one day and faked my death by dressing a dead woman in my clothes. VILE thinks I’m dead, and I have since taken on a new identity; I can help you do the same.”

“I do not want to leave VILE.” Replied El Topo. “All of the people I care about are back at VILE.”

“Well, I don’t think you have much of a choice, honey.” Said Bobcat. “You’ve been captured. If I let you go, and VILE catches you, they’re going to mindwipe or kill you. For now, you’ll just have to stay with me just like that other operative who’s living with Carmen and the others.”

El Topo was confused. He hadn’t heard about another operative going missing. “There is another operative living with Carmen Sandiego? That is impossible; I would have heard about it.”

“You probably heard about Dash Haber being killed.” She told him. “Well, let’s just say VILE would’ve benefited from taking a second look.”

“Dash Haber is still alive?” He gasped.

She nodded. “Yes, he is. Sweetheart, as much as I would like to stay and talk, I haven’t given Carmen a call about how busting that mining operation of yours went, and I think the Percs have finally worn off enough for me to not sound obviously drugged up, so I have to go do that. I’ll feed you in a couple hours.”

She left the room, closing the door behind her. He heard her walk up the basement stairs and slam the basement door.

A few minutes later, Bobcat returned, holding a cordless phone.

“Carmen wants to speak to you.” She told him, handing over the phone. “I’m not leaving you alone with that phone, though; I know you’ll try and call VILE.”

El Topo put the phone to his ear uncertainly. “_Hola_?”

“Antonio, is that really you?” Carmen’s voice sounded a bit nervous. “Are you okay?”

“No, I am chained in the basement of your_ amiga_ and I do not know what happened to Jean-Paul.” He replied. “I do not want to be here; tell her to release me.”

“Well, the thing is, even if we wanted to release you, we really can’t.” Said Carmen. “From what Bobcat has told me, they thought she was an ACME agent since she had a fair bit of inside knowledge about VILE but didn’t know the island had been destroyed, so if they did get you back they would probably mindwipe you. I don’t know why you would want to go back there, anyways; Bobcat said they left you for dead.”

“They did not leave me for dead!” He shouted into the phone. “Jean-Paul would never allow such a thing!”

Carmen gave a sigh. “Either way, until we can come up with a more permanent solution, you’re stuck living with Bobcat. I know it doesn’t look that way right now, but she’s not a bad person. If you calm down and show you can be trusted, I’m sure she’ll let you off that chain in no time.”

“I do not want to be here!” He protested.

“You’ve made that very clear, and I’ve already told you, you don’t have a choice.” She replied. “We’re obviously not going anywhere with this conversation, so I’m going to hang up. Once you’ve had some time to think, we can talk again. Goodbye, Antonio.”

She hung up.

With a defeated sigh, El Topo wordlessly handed the phone back to Bobcat.

If he hadn’t been so hellbent on hunting down Bobcat, Crowley probably would’ve taken a flight with a stopover. Usually, he would try to break the flight in at least half so he could have time for a cigarette. Since the flight was just over three hours, he figured he would be fine if he smoked before and afterwards. He was wrong.

Maybe it was the stress of the task at hand, or maybe it was the crying baby three rows back, either way, just an hour and a half into the flight, he was really craving some nicotine. He started scratching at the skin on the back of his hand, trying to find something, anything to get his mind off his craving.

His seatmate, an American man in his early forties who Crowley would classify as a silver fox, seemed to notice his distress.

“You’re craving a smoke, aren’t you?” Asked the man.

Crowley nodded. “I heard ye used tae be allowed tae smoke on planes, but they ain’t let ye anymore.”

“I quit smoking when a started my current job.” The man told him. “I’m always flying somewhere, so it was a pain to go an entire flight without a smoke, so it just made sense to quit. I do have some nicotine gum if you’re interested.”

Crowley’s eyes lit up. “Aye, better than chewing on a cigarette fer tae tobacco, mate. Pass it ‘ere.”

The man nodded and handed him a few pieces of the gum.

“Thank ye.” Said Crowley. “I been travelin’ fer work fer years, never gotten ‘round tae quittin’. Ye give this stuff tae every bloke ye see strugglin’?”

The man smirked. “Only to cute guys.”

Crowley was pansexual and pretty open about it.

“Yer not bad lookin’, yerself. Say, we ever meet up again, ye want ta meet up fer coffee, or somethin’?”

“I would love that.” Replied the man, writing down his number on a gum wrapper. “Call me up sometime, we can figure out the details later.”

Crowley took the paper from the man, not actually expecting to ever see him again. Most of his encounters with people like that had been purely sexual (he had no problem sharing a space such as a hotel room with a stranger, since he always had a path of escape), always with people he had met that day. He’d received many phone numbers over the years, but never called a single one.

Checking his communicator, he realized he had a message from Data.

Data a skilled German hacker who just happened to be his friend and former roommate from his time at VILE academy. She was a fairly quiet person, and ever since an incident on an assignment near the beginning of her time as an operative, only contributed to VILE remotely via hacking and occasionally helping Dr. Bellum with her inventions.

_I’m supposed to be providing electronic support to you on this assignment. _The message read. _But one quick question, what the actual fuck? _

**_What do you mean by that?_** He typed in response.

_Why do want to kill Bobcat so bad? Professor Maelstrom had to have known you wanted to, otherwise he would’ve sent someone who didn’t know her. Bobcat was a nice person; you know full well she didn’t intend for Devon to die._

Devon, AKA Fallen Angel, had been the only person Crowley had ever truly loved, and had died on an assignment along with three other operatives; Bobcat had been the only survivor. The details of the assignment were never shared with him, but deep down, Crowley knew Bobcat had to be responsible.

After the death of his angel, Crowley had snapped. He could find nobody to blame for the death except for Bobcat, and he made that clear. In his rage he had physically harmed both Moose Boy and Otter Man, and while Moose Boy had completely forgiven him at this point, Otter Man had been untrusting even before he joined VILE, and was still a bit afraid of Crowley, even if he claimed otherwise.

** _She shouldn’t be allowed to live so freely when my angel wasn’t even allowed to make it to 28. Bobcat had been the most experienced operative on that assignment, and yet she was the only one t come back alive. I find it suspicious._ **

_Devon idolized Bobcat; she would never have wanted you to kill her._

** _Well, we can’t ask her. Wanna know why? BECAUSE SHE’S FUCKING DEAD!_ **

He turned off his communicator after sending the message. Sure, Data could still send him messages, and he would get them later, but for now he was done with her. He spent the rest of the flight livid.

From what Le Chevre had gathered from other operatives, the woman who had taken El Topo had apparently been a VILE operative at one point who went by the name of Bobcat. About seven years ago, after an assignment gone wrong, they had found a corpse wearing her clothes and had come to the logical conclusion that it was, in fact, her. Unfortunately, it turned out they had been wrong, and now she was apparently working for ACME.

As he was trying to compile the information he had collected so far, he heard his communicator ring. It was Professor Maelstrom.

Le Chevre picked up. “_Bonjour_, Professor Maelstrom. Are you in need of my assistance?”

“Le Chevre, I know what you’re doing, and you need to stop.” The man sounded angry. “You are to assume El Topo is dead and are not to get involved in this matter. We have sent a much more experienced operative to deal with the situation, and by getting involved, you only put the objective in jeopardy, understand?”

“_Oui_, I understand.” He replied. “I will stay out of the matter and focus on my own assignments instead.”

“Good, just know that if I find out you’ve gone behind my back on this the consequences will be severe.” Professor Maelstrom ended the call without another word.

Le Chevre knew that if he was going to go about tracking down El Topo, he would have to be a bit more secretive about it from now on.

It was amazing what you could get past the TSA if you packed it right. Crowley had flown all the way from Budapest to Glasgow with an extremely powerful accelerant in his carryon bag, but since he had less than three ounces of it in a bottle meant for contact solution, they didn’t bat an eye, despite him not having any other items that implied he wore contacts. VILE had even gotten him a Department of Transport exception, allowing him to bring two lighters with him.

The rest of his weapons and accelerants were tucked away in his checked baggage, which made sense since he didn’t have access to them on the plane and couldn’t use them if he wanted to. Crowley knew better than to use the accelerant and lighters, or the surprisingly sharp knitting needles (he didn’t knit, but they were allowed and could easily be used as a weapon) while flying, but he liked to have them for the protection.

Before picking up his checked luggage, Crowley decided to check on one of the items in his carryon bag one last time to make sure it was still okay. The item in question was a plain box that contained a pair of crystal otters. They had been a pain to find, and expensive, so he wouldn’t have been happy if they had broken.

He always liked to bring gifts for Moose Boy and Otter Man gifts when he saw them. They were close friends of his, and he always felt guilty about how bad he had hurt them after losing Fallen Angel. Moose Boy’s gifts varied in nature, but Otter Man’s were always related to otters in some way. Crowley knew that the other man had interned at a zoo working with otters and seals and had almost become a marine veterinarian before joining VILE. He had been given the nickname Otter from the head keeper who could never remember his name and worked it into his VILE codename.

As Crowley stepped into the Glasgow streets after picking up his checked baggage, he couldn’t help but smile. This was his city; the place he liked to call home.

The taxi ride to his apartment was uneventful. An Uber would’ve been cheaper, but since he was traveling on VILE’s dime, Crowley didn’t care. It was eight in the morning, and frankly, he was too sober for any of this.

The driver’s ramblings were getting on his nerves, and if they hadn’t gotten to his apartment when they did, he probably would’ve killed the man. Crowley thanked the driver before taking his bags and beginning the arduous journey to the fifth floor where his apartment was located.

The landlord had always claimed that she would call someone to fix the elevator soon whenever he brought it up, but it hadn’t worked when he lived there _before _joining VILE, so it hadn’t worked in at least ten years. The building itself probably wasn’t up to code, but since pretty much everyone who lived there was a criminal in some form or another, nobody ever reported it for fear they might be found out. The building housed all types of people, from drug dealers and prostitutes, to law-abiding people who just happened to be in the country illegally.

When Crowley finally made it up the stairs to his apartment, he walked inside to find Moose Boy watching hockey on the TV (he had been a minor league hockey player before joining VILE and still enjoyed watching the sport), but Otter Man was nowhere to be seen.

“_Hej_, Alistair.” Moose Boy greeting him cheerfully. “Are you here to get some of your stuff for an assignment.”

“Aye, pal; they been sendin’ me aw over tae fookin Earth.” He replied. “Oi, where’s Sven?”

“He’s still in bed; he’s been sleeping until ten most days.” Explained Moose Boy. “I can go wake him up if you want.”

Crowley shook his head. “Dinnae ye fuss yerself; I’ll do it fer ye.”

Crowley knew Otter Man didn’t have the best mental health in the world, so he worried the other man might be depressed if he was staying in bed so late almost every day. Moose Boy wouldn’t understand, so he knew he would have to do it himself.

The apartment only had one bedroom, and Crowley had given it to Moose Boy and Otter Man when they moved in. If he had to stay in the apartment for any reason, he would always sleep on the pull-out couch (he’d had sex on that couch on many occasions, and always liked to joke that while the couch pulled out, he certainly didn’t).

“Oi, Sven, whit ye doin’ still in bed?” He shouted into the bedroom. “Its eight in the bloody mornin’.”

Otter Man groaned and pulled the blankets over his head. “_Dra åt helvete_.”

“I worry aboot ye, pal.” Said Crowley, this time at a normal volume. “Henrik say’s ye’ve been sleepin’ till ten most days.”

“I’m fine.” Replied Otter Man. “I’m just tired, and I would very much appreciate it if you left.”

“I worry that yer depressed, mate.” He told him. “Get yerself outa me shithole apartment and see the city.”

“I’ll think about it.” Groaned Otter Man. “Just let me sleep.”

If Crowley hadn’t been on an assignment, he probably would’ve forced Otter Man to get out of bed and do something, maybe he’d take the shorter man someplace interesting, perhaps an historic castle; Glasgow had a few of those. He knew he would eventually run out of time to spend with his friends, but VILE had to come first.

He collected what he needed from the apartment before carefully placing the two gifts on the kitchen table. While Crowley had bought Moose Boy something he knew the Swede would like, it was Otter Man’s gift he cared most about. Buying Otter Man a figurine of an otter was nothing new, but the crystal figures were much different than the realistic-looking ones he usually bought. The otter figurines decorated the bookcases and shelves of every room, and Crowley wondered where the crystal ones would end up.

After saying goodbye to Moose Boy (and claiming that Otter Man hadn’t wanted to get up due to not feeling well), Crowley headed off. He didn’t know where he would find Bobcat, but something told him it wouldn’t be here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own the image I used in this chapter, I found it on google.
> 
> Please leave me a review if you can.
> 
> There are actually gonna be three Bits and Pieces for this chapter; one about Crowley's past, one about Lonestar's past, and one about the event that caused Moose Boy and Otter man to move to Glasgow in the first place, I'll figure out which one I'm gonna do first in a bit. I'm also planing on doing Bits and Pieces about Moose Boy and Otter Man's pasts, along with the incident that caused Otter Man to lose most of his vision, but those will be later on, after they have more time in the fic.


	7. Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> VILE has left its mark on everyone, and those scars always seem to be a problem at night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings for this chapter: Violence, PTSD, vomiting, legal drug use

Over the years, Otter Man had learned that there were quite a few problems of vision loss besides the obvious fact that he couldn’t see things well, even with his glasses. Because of his poor vision, his brain had issues with processing certain movement, making him susceptible to motion sickness. He never had problems with long car trips before, even as a child, but now on pretty much every drive over an hour, if he didn’t want to get sick, he’d have to take Dramamine, which always ended up making him feel tired.

Not always being able to see what was in his path was also an issue, as if often led to him bumping into or tripping over objects a well sighted person might not even think about. As Otter Man’s sight decreased, injuries related to falling and his reduced depth perception were becoming more frequent.

Of course, suffering from such a physical impairment that came about somewhat suddenly had its affects on his mental health as well. Otter Man had always dealt with anxiety, an issue he really didn’t like to talk about, but not being able to see made it even worse. He constantly worried about failing assignments due to his sight, or VILE deciding it was a good enough reason to mindwipe him. Dr. Vess had also said something about his blindness causing depression, which seemed to be getting worse, much like his vision.

The worst, however, was how his vision loss affected the way people treated him. Due to the circumstances of his childhood, Otter Man had always been a fiercely independent person, and he wasn’t going to let a little thing like being almost blind change that. He still took on assignments and felt he could go on with his life just fine without help from anyone. Unfortunately, other people didn’t always see it that way.

Upon finding out the extent of his vision loss, other people, even some VILE operatives, would act like he constantly needed help. In some situations, like the few times he lost his glasses, he actually appreciated the help (although he would never admit it), but most of the time people just assumed he needed help without even asking him first. In a few cases, people actually started talking loudly and slower to him after noticing his vision problems, as if he was hard of hearing.

Otter Man’s main worry, however, was how VILE saw him. He’d never been the most successful operative, especially in comparison to other operatives from his year, such as Data and Crowley. After an accident during an assignment caused him to lose most of his vision, Otter Man’s first fear was that they would mindwipe him as soon as he recovered. While that hadn’t happened, he still worried that at any moment they might decide that he was no longer worth keeping around.

It was clear that Otter Man’s vision was getting worse as time went on, but he was extremely in denial about this fact. If and when his sight was gone completely it would not be a question of _if _the head faculty decided he needed to be mindwiped, but _when. _Otter Man didn’t have much of a life to go back to and losing ten years of his life would likely destroy him as a person.

The tranquilizer darts Bobcat had shot him with earlier hadn’t quite warn off yet, and El Topo was feeling a bit tired and sore. Bobcat had offered him a number of different pills to help with that, but seeing that she was an animal doctor, and not a human doctor, he didn’t think she should be giving him pills only available by prescription. He did, however, accept some ibuprofen and muscle rub, along with a mug of tea that supposedly helped to relieve sore muscles.

Bobcat had mostly left him alone for the day; having missed a day of work in order to thwart VILE had put her a bit behind schedule, and she had a lot of work to catch up on. She’d left his with a pile of books to keep him busy during the day, apologizing for not having a TV that she could bring down.

El Topo hadn’t been able to sleep the previous night, and time he was unconscious from the tranquilizer had only made him more tired. He worried about Le Chevre, wondering if something had happened to the other man that caused him to leave El Topo behind. He also feared what Bobcat might do to him. While she did seem genuinely caring, she _had _kidnapped him and locked him in her basement. She didn’t seem to be the most stable or sober person, either.

He spent the day trying to take a nap, but just couldn’t seem to fall asleep. Eventually he was able to sleep, but his slumber was less than restful. Once again, El Topo found himself plagued by the memory of his first and only kill, coming in the form of a nightmare.

_El found himself back in Germany. He and Le Chevre were sent to destroy a factory producing sports cars that rival those created by VILE and would likely affect their market share. It wasn’t meant to be a difficult assignment-the factory was almost fully automized at this point with minimal security-but things quickly turned south._

_During a scuffle with a surprise well equip security guard, Le Chevre wound up cornered with a gun pointed at his head. El Topo panicked, and seeing nothing else he could do, pulled out his own gun (all VILE operatives were required to carry firearms), and shot the man in the head._

_The man hadn’t even had the time to cry out before the bullet penetrated his skull. He collapsed to the ground instantly, his head surrounded by a growing puddle of blood. Le Chevre had said something to him, but he could never remember what._

El Topo woke up in a cold sweat, before dashing off to the bathroom to vomit. After initially killing the guard, he hadn’t thrown up until they were walking back to the helicopter and the reality of what he’d done had hit. The nightmares, however, always seemed to make him sick, hitting him with the reality that he was a murderer once again.

Despite knowing he wasn’t going to vomit again, El Topo stayed in the bathroom, seated on the floor with his back against the wall, trying to clear his mind. A few minutes later, he heard Bobcat knock on the door.

“Sweetheart, are you okay?” She asked, actually sounding concerned. “Can you come out here so I can make sure you’re not having a bad reaction to the tranquilizers?”

El Topo knew it wasn’t an allergic reaction, but he came out anyways, fearing Bobcat would get an axe and chop through the door like Johnny in The Shining if he didn’t.

Bobcat felt his forehead before checking the spots where the tranquilizer darts had entered his skin, finding his temperature to be normal and his skin free of any sort of rash.

“Well, you don’t seem to be having an allergic reaction, and it doesn’t look like the flu, either.” She told him. “It could be food poisoning, have you eaten anything weird lately? Of course, it could also be the stress of this whole ordeal that’s making you sick. I have some pills that might help, but since they’re not exactly over-the-counter medicine, I doubt you’ll take them. How about I just get you some ginger tea and crackers for now?”

He nodded. “_Si_, I would prefer that over whatever mystery pills you want to give me.”

“Honey, I performed a successful c-section on a wild doe once; I think I can do something as simple as give somebody the right pills.” She chuckled. “You wait right here; it’ll just be a few minutes on the tea.”

“Before you go, what time is it?” He asked her.

She glanced at her watch. “Its just about 5:30; my clinic closed half an hour ago. I was in the process of wrapping things up for the day, but I think my employees can take care of that.”

She exited the room, closing the door behind her. A few minutes later, she came bag with a mug of tea and a package of crackers and handed them to El Topo.

“I really need to go grocery shopping.” She told him. “I can’t live off delivery forever, and now that you’re here, I’ll be using up a lot more food, I guess I’ll go tonight since Walmart’s open to midnight. Anyways, I’m guessing it’s the stress of being kidnapped that made you sick, unless you ate something weird before your assignment.”

“I do not think it was either of those.” Said El Topo. “I have this recurring nightmare, and every time I have it, I throw up after waking. I had that nightmare while I was asleep.”

Bobcat sat down on the mattress next to him and put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. “Believe me, honey, you’re not the only one who has nightmares about their past. Do you want to tell me about it? It usually helps to talk these things through.”

El Topo wasn’t sure about sharing something so personal with the woman who was technically keeping him prisoner, but he knew Bobcat was probably right about the talking it through thing. And from the way she talked, it was likely she had her own nightmares about what took place during her time with VILE, especially considering that she had been an operative for much longer than he had.

“I’ve only ever killed one person, and I did it to protect Jean-Paul.” He told her.

“Who’s this Jean-Paul?” Asked Bobcat. “A friend of yours back at VILE?”

“He is a friend, but a little more.” Replied El Topo. “Ever since we graduated, we haven’t been apart for more than a few days at a time.”

“You can just say he’s your boyfriend, sweetheart, I’m not stupid.” Said Bobcat. “Anyways, continue.”

In VILE, romantic relationships were frowned upon; they were considered to be a distraction and a liability. Bobcat had several lovers during her time at VILE, but since she always kept the relationships purely sexual, it had never been a problem.

With a nod, El Topo continued. “We were on an assignment in Germany, it was supposed to be an easy one. At one point, a security guard had his gun pointed at Jean-Paul, and I got scared. I did not know what to do, so I pulled out my gun and shot him. I killed a man.

“I have always wondered about that man’s life before I ended it; maybe he had a wife and kids that he never got to return to because of me. He was a person; he only pointed his gun at Jean-Paul because it was his job. I didn’t want to kill him, but I had to. I had to protect Jean-Paul. I’m a murderer!”

El Topo was crying now. While he knew talking about it would probably help him in the long run, it brought up some very painful memories.

“You’re not the first VILE operative to take somebodies life; most of us have.” She assured him. “I don’t remember how many people I’ve killed-I lost count after it hit double digits-but it was a lot more than one. You’re far from a murderer.”

“Do you ever have nightmares about the people you’ve killed?” He asked her. “You were in VILE for so long, it must have had an effect on you.”

Bobcat sighed. “Its not the people I killed that keep me awake at night, rather it was somebody I couldn’t save. It happened around seven years ago; her name was Fallen Angel.

“I was sent on an assignment with her and three other operatives, all younger and less experienced than myself. There was no way we needed that many people for such a simple assignment, but who was I to question the judgement of the Head Faculty? Not long after we were dropped off, the three other operatives attacked me. I knew I could fight them off on my own, so I told Fallen Angel to run. She refused, insisting she fight alongside me, a decision that turned out to be fatal.

“Fallen Angel was well liked, but the Head Faculty tried to brush her death under the rug. At the time, Fallen Angel had been in a relationship with another operative named Crowley, a man known to be a bit unstable. After he learned of her death, he blamed me and wanted to kill me, but ended up getting in an altercation with two of his former roommates, and almost killing them. He was not punished in any way, due to being seen as a valuable operative. It wasn’t Fallen Angel’s death that caused me to leave VILE, but the events that took place afterwards.”

El Topo knew of Crowley but had never met the man personally. Safe for a few operatives who weren’t afraid of him, Crowley wouldn’t usually have any other operatives go out on assignments with him. According to some people, he had mellowed out over the years, but others recommended avoiding him whenever possible.

Without another word, Bobcat pulled out a joint, lit it, and took a drag of the burning herb. El Topo gave her a look of horror.

“_Dios mío_, is that marijuana?” He asked, in shock at how casually she had pulled it out.

Bobcat chuckled. “Relax, sweetheart; its legal in this state, and I’m sure as hell not going to Walmart sober. Do you want a puff?”

He shook his head. “Isn’t that stuff bad for you?”

Bobcat simply shrugged. “It’s no worse than tobacco, and it calms you down a lot; its medicinal. I gotta feed my animals, then I’m going shopping. Anything you want?”

“Not really.” He told her. “I thought your employees were taking care of wrapping everything up. Did they not feed the animals as well?”

“Oh honey, you might not have realized, being down in my basement and all, but you’re on a farm.” She explained. “I have five sheep, two goats, two steer, three horses, a flock of chickens, and a flock of ducks.”

El Topo had assumed that Bobcat was just a normal veterinarian that cared for house pets like cats and dogs but being a farm vet better explained why her clinic was right next to her house.

“One more question before you go. If you were all the way in your clinic, how did you know I was sick?” Asked El Topo.

Bobcat brushed her hair behind her left ear to reveal a wireless earbud. “You think I would leave you alone down here without audio monitoring?”

Before leaving Scotland, Crowley decided to make a point of visiting a friend and former lover of his. He’d had a relationship with Shawna when they were still in high school, and while they broke up after the death of Michael, their other lover, he was still on good terms with her.

Shawna was best described as an enigma. She had worked her way up to becoming the leader of the Glasgow Rats, a gang that was responsible for a vast majority of all narcotic sales in the city which Crowley himself had once been a part of. Despite the money she brought in, Shawna shied away from luxury, instead choosing to live in the same shitty apartment building she always had. She had a pet hawk and a wolf hybrid and liked to spend her free time painting.

Shawna lived on the third floor, and Crowley would have to pass by it to exit the building anyways, he decided to stop by after he’d visited Moose Boy and Otter Man. Despite it still being fairly early, he found Shawna awake, working on a painting of an intimidating-looking bear.

“Do ye ever knock?” Was the first question she asked when he barged in.

“Do ye ever lock yer door?” Was his response.

She motioned to her large wolf hybrid. “No needty. Why ye here?”

“Can’t visit an old chum without gettin’ the third degree? I was in the country and wanted tae see ye.”

“Nice tae see ye, too, I guess?” She replied. “Been keepin’ a good eye on those friends of yer’s, the two Swedish blokes. The shorter one’s gettin’ more blind, I think.”

After Moose Boy and Otter Man first moved to Glasgow, Crowley had asked Shawna to keep an eye out for them. He knew how dangerous the city could be, and since Shawna always had her subordinates out keeping an eye on the city, she could simply have them keep an eye out for the two VILE operatives, too. Shawna never questioned why Crowley’s friends were now in Scotland or why he wanted her to keep an eye on them; she just did as she was asked.

Crowley took a look at Shawna’s painting and smiled. “Ye would’ve made a wonderful artist.”

After being awoken by Crowley, Otter Man had managed to fall back asleep. Unfortunately, this sleep was far from peaceful, and he ended up having a nightmare. Having almost lost his friends multiple times, and having actually lost one, it was no surprise that nightmares depicting the deaths of people he cared about were far from a rarity.

_They hadn’t dug Data up in time, Neal burned to death when his slick suit caught fire, Moose Boy had died of his wounds after a failed assignment, Crowley had taken his own life. All his friends were gone, and yet somehow Otter Man had survived._

_A figure approached him from behind. Coach Brunt._

_She laughed. “Never imagined you’d be the sole survivor, huh?”_

He woke up screaming. Moose Boy immediately ran in to comfort him.

“It’s okay, Sven; it was just a nightmare.” He assured the smaller man. “It’s not real, I promise.”

After a few minutes, Otter Man was able to calm down. With a groan, he reached for his glasses on the bedside table.

“Are you okay, Sven?” Moose Boy asked, sounding concerned.

“_Ja_.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“_Nej_.”

Moose Boy sighed. Despite the nightmares being almost constant, Otter Man refused to talk about them. They had a negative impact on his sleep and overall mood, and it made Moose Boy worried. Despite knowing that talking would probably help, he didn’t push the issue further.

“Do you want pancakes for breakfast?” He asked.

“_Ja_.”

Ever since the incident seven years ago, Crowley had found it hard to sleep. More often than not, he would lie in bed at night, replaying the events in his head.

Fallen Angel had died while out on her assignment, that was something he’d had no way of preventing, but he could have controlled the way he reacted to the news that day. Even if Otter Man had gotten in his way and told him not to go after Bobcat, he didn’t need to attempt to strangle him and bash him into a wall. And he sure as hell didn’t need to stab Moose Boy for intervening.

Crowley hated having any downtime at all, as it gave him time to think about the past. Because of this, he would throw himself into his assignments whenever possible.

_He stood on a foggy mountain. A few hundred feet away stood Fallen Angel, facing a cliff with her back to him._

_“Devon!” He called out. “My angel! Come tae me!”_

_She shook her head, not bothering to face him. “No, you know what you’ve done.”_

_And then she jumped._

Crowley woke up in a cold sweat. Figuring he probably wouldn’t be getting back to sleep, he decided it was time to get up. He had flown to America to do some research into Victoria Pride, the identity Bobcat had been going by when she was a VILE operative. Due to some glaring inaccuracies Dr. Vess had found years earlier in her medical records, Crowley was certain it wasn’t her real name, but figured it might prove to be a good place to start.

Crowley silently got dressed, wearing his signature leather jacket and sunglasses, before heading to the bathroom. Despite being only 32, Crowley was starting to show some signs of age, likely due to the stressful nature of his employment and his smoking and drinking habits. He had a few wrinkles on his face he covered with concealer, and the last time he’d gone to dye his naturally red roots black, found a fair amount of grey. Crowley always wondered when he got so vain when it came to looking youthful.

Dash had been having a lot of trouble settling in now that everyone was back at the hideout. He liked Zack well enough, and Ivy was starting to warm up to him, but he still feared that Carmen or Shadow-San would turn him in to ACME or trade him back to VILE for information.

He finally had his own bedroom, and while he found it to be quite drab, it meant he didn’t have to sleep on the couch anymore. Unfortunately, despite being free from VILE and Countess Cleo, Dash still suffered nightmares of his time in the organization.

_He stood before Countess Cleo, her face displaying an expression of anger._

_“I thought I made a good decision by making you my personal assistant, I guess I was wrong.” She told him. “You have failed me too many times.”_

_“But Countess.” He sputtered. “I-“_

_She shook her head. “No, you’ve already had enough chances. Goodbye.”_

_Professor Maelstrom and Dr. Bellum stepped out from the shadows, Dr. Bellum holding her mindwiping device. Dash tried desperately to back away, but quickly found himself against a wall._

Dash panicked a little after initially waking up but calmed down a bit after remembering he was no longer part of that horrid organization. Realizing he probably wasn’t going to get back to sleep, he sighed, turned on his lamp, and picked up a fashion magazine from his bedside table.

Nearing the end of the third day of his captivity, El Topo was looking a bit down. Bobcat figured it was just from being locked up in her basement, but decided to talk to him about it, anyways.

“Anything the matter, sweetheart?” She asked when bringing down his dinner. “I mean, other than the obvious.”

He looked at the ground sadly. “I just miss Jean-Paul so much. I would give anything to see him again.”

He looked like he was about to cry. Without warning, Bobcat hugged him.

“Oh, honey, we’ll find Jean-Paul for you and get him out of VILE.” She assured him. “I’ll even help you two get new identities so you can stay out of sight. You kids have it so easy these days; faking your death and stealing a dead person’s identity was much harder before the internet, I’ll tell you that much.”

“You promise?”

She nodded. “Of course.”

Before leaving, Bobcat pulled out a small key, and unlocked the collar from around his neck.

“I’ll move you upstairs to the guest room later on, I’ve just got to clear a bunch of crap out of there first.” She told him. “I don’t think I’ve had guests since I moved in.”

El Topo seemed satisfied with her answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is gonna have two Bits and Pieces chapters, one about El Topo killing someone, and the other about the events surrounding Otter Man losing his vision. Should have one posted in a week or so.  
If you liked the fic, I would appreciate if you left me some feedback.
> 
> Dr. Vess belongs to Violetfic


	8. Song Birds and Schematics

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bobcat had always been a mystery to everyone, but a few details about her old life had surfaced over the years, and Crowley was going to use those little clues as best he could to track the woman down.  
A day alone brings up some painful memories for Dash.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings for this chapter: Drug addiction, mentions of overdose, PTSD, surgery mentions

Dr. Vess was shocked to hear that Bobcat was somehow alive after all these years of everyone thinking she was dead. But it wasn’t the fact that she had faked her own death that surprised him the most (he’d always had a sneaking suspicion that she wasn’t the person she’d claimed to be), but that she somehow managed to survive another seven years without accidentally offing herself.

In the three years their times at VILE had overlapped, he knew Bobcat to be a slightly unstable drug abuser that suffered from occasional outburst of anger. According to the woman herself, she had gotten hooked on opioids after the previous surgeon had needlessly supplied her with them whenever she suffered the slightest of back pain. She’d also taken up smoking marijuana before joining VILE, while living with a group of ecoterrorists (or “Not-so-Kumbaya hippies,” as she had called them).

Because of her medical background, Bobcat would be sent to help in the infirmary if they were exceptionally busy/short-staffed (such as in The Food Poisoning Incident of 2010), or when the Head Faculty didn’t have any assignments for her, and simply wanted her out of their hair. Dr. Vess had worked closely with Bobcat in the past and knew that 99% of the time she was calm and would often mother hen members of VILE that were younger than her (including himself). But that 1% of the time when she wasn’t, she could be quite dangerous.

To the average person, Bobcat didn’t look very dangerous. She was 5’ 4” with an average build and didn’t exactly fit the physical mold of the average VILE operative, but that didn’t matter. There was something feral inside of Bobcat, and if you hadn’t seen it come out firsthand, you would have trouble believing the sheer number of lives she had taken.

Dr. Vess had only seen Bobcat become violent a handful of times, mostly towards him when he crossed a line he didn’t even know existed. Both times she had snapped out of it fairly quickly, but considering what she was capable of, he wasn’t about to call her bluff.

The first time was when he had initially come to VILE. Since the Head Faculty had wanted him to take some classes alongside the students (just in case he ever needed to protect himself or a patient), he couldn’t be in the infirmary as much as he would have liked. Bobcat was assigned to work under him, keeping an eye on the infirmary while he was in classes and only calling him if something was truly beyond the scope of her and the VILE medical staff.

He thought she was nice enough at first. He did find her a bit annoying, however, with how talkative she could be, and how she liked to mother hen him (including calling him “Sweetheart,” and, “Honey”), but she was good with the operatives and students, so he really couldn’t complain.

The first time an issue arose was when Bobcat had come for a refill of her Percocet. Seeing that she’d been on the medication for years after an injury, and that one of the reasons the previous surgeon had been let go was for over-prescribing Opioids (not to mention Bobcat’s medical record mentioned that she had accidentally overdosed on the pills in the past), he decided not to refill it, instead offering her alternatives that would help her kick the pills for good. Bobcat, of course, wasn’t too keen on this solution.

_“I know you’re new here, and I know you think you know how everything works, but let me tell you, sweetheart, VILE is nothing like whatever pretentious medical school they got you from.” _She had told him, pressing a scalpel to his throat. _“What you need to know about me is that I have killed before, and I will kill again; you do not want to cross me.”_

When he informed the Head Faculty of her aggressive behavior and her very likely drug addition, the response was essentially, “She’s a good operative. Just give her the pills and she’ll leave you alone. We don’t give her enough time to do anything too stupid; she’ll be fine.”

As a doctor, he knew it was wrong to keep supplying an addict, but as an employee of VILE, he didn’t have much of a choice. Bobcat had been kind towards him and respectful of his authority after he started providing her with her fix.

The second time was when he referred to her as Victoria. Her medical records stated her name as Victoria Pride, and most operatives referred to each other by their first names while not out on assignment, including Bobcat herself. She had even referred to him by his first name, Numa, on various occasions, so he thought it wouldn’t be a problem. He was wrong.

What Dr. Vess hadn’t realized at the time was that while Bobcat referred to other operatives by their first names, nobody addressed Bobcat by hers. While there was probably a good reason for this, nobody knew it, only that she got angry if you call her Victoria and had been this way since the first week she attended VILE academy, when she had chosen her name. Unfortunately, nobody thought to inform Vess of this.

He didn’t remember what exactly he said to her, only that it was something not unusual. Perhaps, “Victoria, I need you to finish this paperwork for me.” Or, “Victoria, bring this medicine to my patient.” It didn’t matter either way, though, as her reaction would’ve been the same.

Without warning, she slapped him across the face before backhanding him. _“You will address me as Bobcat, and as nothing else!” _She had ordered. _“My name is not Victoria! Call me that again, and I will end you!”_

Bobcat had snapped out of if quickly afterwards, and began apologizing and asking if he was okay, even going as far as attempting to hug him. She was extra nice to him the following days.

The other two times Bobcat had gotten aggressive with him was after he had saved her from overdosing. It wasn’t uncommon for opioid users to be unhappy after receiving Naloxone, so he probably should have expected that.

The first time she’d overdosed while he was working for VILE was an accident, that he was sure of. Bobcat had come back from an assignment with a few broken ribs and decided to take a little more Percocet than normal and had forgotten how much she’s taken earlier that day. After the Naloxone had taken effect, she woke up, vomited, and then punched Dr. Vess in the nose. It took almost three weeks for his broken nose to heal.

The second time she overdosed, he wasn’t so sure about. It had been after the death of Fallen Angel; an operative Bobcat was fairly close to. According to Bobcat’s statement she and Fallen Angel had been attacked by the three other operatives on the assignment, an assignment Bobcat probably could’ve handled herself or with only one other operative. Fallen Angel had been injured so badly that she bled out before Bobcat could even do anything. Bobcat had brought the younger woman’s body back to VILE island but left the bodies of the traitors for the Cleaners to deal with.

While Bobcat had been injured and likely in a fair amount of pain after the assignment gone wrong, he seriously doubted that she had just messed up her dosage again. This time, before giving her the Naloxone, Dr. Vess made sure that Shadow-San, the one who had found her after she had overdosed, was standing nearby, and backed up before the drug could take effect. Bobcat had still managed to throw the nearest object, a coffee mug, at him, missing his head by mere inches.

Dr. Vess knew Bobcat was a dangerous person, but he also knew that if there was anyone who could take her down, it was Crowley. Unfortunately, the operative was running out of time.

Blue Jay wasn’t even supposed to be sent out on that stupid assignment. Somehow, she had managed to convince the Head Faculty to let her take three days off to take care of some _personal business _(there was no personal business, she had just really wanted a few days off), but, of course, that was interrupted when VILE needed a last minute replacement for an assignment. It had seemed that Card Trick’s love of questionable street food had finally caught up with him, and he managed to get food poisoning right before being sent out.

Blue Jay had spent a lot of her life as a ballet dancer. She wasn’t overly physically strong, and while she considered herself to be of average intelligence, she wasn’t exactly clever, but the thing that set her apart from other operatives was her speed and finesse. In fact, this assignment had been the first time an enemy had really been able to strike her. She had to admit it, the women she had fought really knew her stuff.

According to Dr. Vess, there were a few breaks and she would need surgery. While she would be able to walk fine after the surgery and some physical therapy, he wasn’t certain if she would fully recover from her injury. With how much she relied on her legs, Blue Jay feared that she might get mindwiped if she wasn’t able to fully recover.

Through gossip, threats, and bribery, Le Chevre was able to find out one of the operatives who had been assigned to tracking down Bobcat. Her name was Heidi, but she went by Data. Data was a highly skilled hacker who rarely left her home in Germany, so Le Chevre knew she must be working with another operative on the assignment.

Le Chevre knew he couldn’t let the Head Faculty know he was still searching for Bobcat, but he also knew Data would most likely not report the interaction. Not out of respect for her fellow operative or anything like that, but simply because she didn’t like talking to the Head Faculty any more than she absolutely needed it.

Knowing that if he sent her a message she would probably not respond and just claim to have not seen it. As he entered the number into his communicator, Le Chevre hoped she would be awake at that time. To his relief, Data picked up on the second ring.

_“_Guten tag_!” _She yawned. _“Uh, Le Chevre, _da_, what do you need? I do not think I was assigned to help you with an assignment, but maybe I just forgot.”_

“Data, we have not been assigned to work together; this is about your current assignment.” He told her. “You have been assigned to find the former operative Bobcat, have you not?”

_“_Da_, this is true_.” Replied Data. _“And how does this matter concern you?”_

“Bobcat took Antonio, and if I don’t find the two of them before the Cleaners get to them, they’ll mindwipe him.” He told her. “Tell me what you know so far.”

_“El Topo, the mole.” _She mused. _“As far as VILE cares, he’s been captured and will be mindwiped as soon as they capture him. And ever if you got there first, you’d have no chance against Bobcat. She was a VILE operative for over twenty years. I knew her personally; she is not somebody who would be an easy target, even if her age and size would suggest otherwise.”_

“Well, what am I supposed to do then?” He demanded. “Antonio means the world to me; I can’t just let him go so easily.”

_“There is nothing you can do.” _Replied Data. _“Your only hope is that Bobcat is still close enough to the person I knew her to be and knowing the consequences of an operative getting caught, will protect him from VILE and getting mindwiped. Either way, I doubt you will ever see him again. It may be in your best interest to try and move on.”_

She hung up before Le Chevre could say anything else. He stood in shocked silence, taking in the reality that he may never see El Topo again.

Even though VILE was down two operatives, it didn’t mean VILE would be slowing down even a little. Of course, that meant Carmen and her gang couldn’t take a rest, either. The next caper would be bringing them to Switzerland to deal with some financial fraud on VILE’s part. Carmen didn’t have a lot of time to get her team ready, so she was a bit annoyed when she found that Zack hadn’t packed.

“Zack, we don’t have time for this.” She told him. “Hurry up and get packed before we miss our flight.”

“But doesn’t somebody have to stay here with Dash?” He asked her. “Last time it was me, so I thought I’d be the one doing it again.”

Carmen shook her head. “No; we need a getaway driver for this one. Dash is doing a lot better, so nobodies going to be staying here with him.”

“So, you’re just going to let him have free reign of the place? I thought you still didn’t trust him.”

“I don’t.” Replied Carmen. “We’re going to lock him in his room while we’re gone. We’ll leave him with some food and water, and he has more than enough things in there to keep him busy.”

“It seems kinda mean to lock him up in there the whole time we’re gone.” Argued Zack. “Can’t we just call Bobcat to keep an eye on him, so he won’t be all alone?”

“Bobcat’s busy enough with her clinic and Antonio.” Said Carmen. “Besides, we’ll be gone for less than 24 hours; he’ll be fine.”

As much as Zack was worried about leaving Dash alone for a while, he knew Carmen was the one in charge, and arguing with her would get him nowhere.

So far, on her and Crowley’s search for any information even remotely related to Bobcat’s true identity and where she currently was had only turned up dead ends.

The real Victoria Pride was dead and had been since 1971. According to news articles, the girl had died in a house fire at the age of six, which explained why there weren’t any medical records linked to that name past age six. Bobcat must have either found or purchased the dead girl’s name, social security number, and records. One thing they could be certain about was that Bobcat was _not _the person she had told VILE she was when in enrolled 32 years ago.

While they knew a few things about Bobcat from her medical records from her time at VILE and from talking to other operatives, it didn’t help narrow things down too much. For starters, it was hard to tell Bobcat’s exact age due to her lying about her identity, but since her initial physical exam as a student had shown her to be done with puberty and she hadn’t grown in height since then, it was speculated that she had to be at least 17-18 when she joined, and couldn’t have been older than 27-28.

According to medical records Bobcat had also had a hysterectomy as some point before joining VILE. She claimed the procedure took place when she was around 12, according to Dr. Vess (he didn’t elaborate on the reason she gave for having it and they didn’t ask), but could give no reason for why it wasn’t in her medical records, or why her records cut off at the age of six.

Another possible clue for Bobcat’s true identity was her impressive survival skills. According to the few surviving operatives from her year (which included Roundabout and a handful of other aging operatives), the former Self Defense teacher had noticed this and asked Bobcat if she had former training before VILE academy. Bobcat blew this off, claiming she learned all that stuff from girl scouts and camping, and refused to elaborate.

But even with all the clues they had come up with so far, they were no closer to finding Bobcat’s true identity. She was American, but America was a big country and she didn’t have a strong accent that pointed to anywhere in the country specifically. She was of around average height and build, and without any DNA samples, it would take forever to link her to any casing of missing or presumed dead people. Their search was hopeless, and Crowley was getting impatient.

He slammed his fists down on the table, causing his laptop to shake. “She couldn’t have disappeared without a fookin’ trace! There must be somethin’ fer us tae find.”

“How do you even know that her current location is in any way linked to her past?” Asked Data. “Why would she go back to somewhere she used to live. Wouldn’t that make it easier for her to be found?”

“Aye, but it’s the only lead we have.” He replied. “She was a great operative in her time, but she’s old now. Ye can’t expect her tae still be so sharp.”

“Bobcat was approximately 48 when she disappeared, and was still going on regular, physically taxing assignments.” Said Data. “Most operatives step back into a less active role by the age of 40. Even if Bobcat has slowed down a bit, I assume she still has her wits about her. And even if you do find her, do you think you’ll be able to take her down alone? Bobcat is from a different era of VILE than us, a more brutal and violent one.”

Crowley smirked. “Eras are meant tae be ended. I needty cool down a bit; I’ll be back after a smoke and a walk. Ye keep an eye on any traces on that missin’ operative. He may just turn out tae be the thing we need tae find Bobcat.”

Data nodded. “_Da_, I will keep an eye out for any sign of El Topo. Oh, that reminds me; Le Chevre called me today. He’s trying to track down Bobcat himself; thinks he can save El Topo.”

“There’s no savin’ the mole; in the eyes of VILE he’s been caught.” Said Crowley. “Ye told him that, aye?”

_“Da._ I didn’t want to lie to him. I didn’t tell the Head Faculty, though, so hopefully he’ll still leave us alone.”

Crowley nodded, and ended the video chat conversation, leaving Data to her research.

Despite having participated in a high number of successful assignments, Data herself had only been physically present on three of them. While even at that point she had mostly provided digital support, there were a few cases where she couldn’t remotely access whatever needed to be hacked. The first two of these assignments had gone well, the third, not so much.

After graduating, Data and her group of friends would be assigned to the same objective. This was a common scenario, as roommate groups usually already worked well together, and it let VILE observe the strengths and weaknesses of each operative to determine how they would be assigned in the future. The assignment in question took place only about a year after they had graduated.

In order to steal multiple gems from a jewel thief that was not connected to VILE in any way, one operative would have to control the mansions security system from the security room, and the rest would have to each find and collect a certain piece of jewelry. A few of her friends had offered to stay behind and stand guard for her, but Data insisted she would be fine, and knew having two operatives in the security room would slow down the collection process.

Somehow, two guards were alerted to the fact that the guard in the security room was now dead, and Data had taken his place. Before she could even turn on her communicator, they had her bound and gagged, and presented her to the jewel thief who suggested that they bury her alive in a wooden coffin and have the other operatives search the grounds for her, all for his sick amusement.

Her friends decided to call in the help of an operative of the name Sargent Schlachten, who trained German shepherds for VILE, and just happened to be finishing up an assignment nearby with a few of her dogs. Her friends, the other operative, and the dogs searched the property-even Otter Man who had a phobia of large dogs-knowing that failure to find Data in a timely manor would result in her death. Thankfully, they were able to dig her up quickly.

This failed mission resulted in two things, the first of which being her agoraphobia. Before joining VILE, Data had lived a fairly sheltered life, and the possibility of being able to travel the world was what drew her to the organization in the first place. After she recovered from the incident, it was determined that she could perform most of her duties remotely, and Neal would learn to hack to deal with things that couldn’t be hacked remotely. She didn’t leave the island into she moved to Germany, and hardly ever left the country or even her home afterwards.

The second thing was the development of her relationship with Sargent Schlachten, AKA Franziska. The other woman had graduated two years prior, and was around seven years older than Data herself, but the two operatives had instantly felt a connection. They later convinced VILE to let them go _undercover _as a _pretend _lesbian couple in a liberal town near a small university. They lived on a farm where Schlachten trained her dogs.

As much as Data would have liked to deal with her agoraphobia, she didn’t see that happening while she still worked for VILE, as it didn’t make sense for them to spend time and money on that when she was just as useful to them now.

El Topo stared over Bobcat’s shoulder nervously, watching as she went through the data Carmen had sent her. She had promised him that she would find Le Chevre, but he wasn’t sure if she really could. Bobcat had begun to trust him a lot more, even moving him up to the guest bedroom, allowing him free range of the house when she was out, and having her help with some of her farm work. She hadn’t let him leave her property just yet but said she would allow him to go into town once she had a new identity for him.

“Sweetheart, I can’t focus if you’re staring over my shoulder.” Said Bobcat. “I gave you my old tablet, go play with that.”

“_Lo siento_, Bobcat, I am just worried.” Replied El Topo, clutching his stuffed goat. Bobcat had found the goat while cleaning out the guest room (she had apparently bought it while drunk, high, or both), and had been planning to get rid of it. El Topo had asked her if he could have it and she gave it to him without even asking why he wanted it.

“Believe me, honey, I understand.” She told him. “I’m just having trouble working on this while you’re watching me. You don’t need to worry; I spend over twenty years with VILE, and I faked my death and resurfaced under a new identity twice, I know what I’m doing. I will find Jean-Paul for you and help you two escape that horrid organization if it’s the last thing I do.”

“Is there anything I can do to help you with it?”

Bobcat shook her head. “No offense, sweetheart, but you’re more likely to mess up my system than actually help me. Just try not to bother me too much and keep up with the housework and cooking like you have been so I have more time to focus.”

“_Si_.”

Another day, another successful caper, that’s how it usually worked out for Carmen and her gang. They had defeated VILE, eluded ACME, and now they were finally home. As soon as he entered the building, Zack quickly put his bags down, and headed off towards Dash’s room.

“Dash is gonna be pissed we locked him in there all day.” He told the others. “He’s probably gonna yell at us, just a fair warning.”

When Zack opened the door, he expected to be immediately screamed at, but Dash didn’t so much as react, continuing to stare blankly ahead as if in a trance.

“Dash!” Zack called out to him. “Are you okay?”

Dash continued staring. Carmen, Shadow-San, and Ivy all came to see what the issue was.

Zack walked over to Dash and called his name one more time before touching him. Dash instantly snapped out of it, and wrapped his arms around the red head, something a bit out of character for him. Zack could tell he was upset.

Dash whispered something to Zack, and Zack turned to the rest of the gang.

“He says he doesn’t want to see you for a while, and that he’s thinking about going back to VILE.” He told them, shutting the door.

“Haber can be dramatic at times.” Said Shadow-San as they headed to the living room. “I’ve known him to be much like Countess Cleo herself.”

Carmen nodded in agreement. “I feel like he’s trying to gain Zack’s trust for some kind of long-con. Though I have to admit, he’s a very good actor.”

“I don’t know, Carm; he looked really upset.” Said Ivy. “Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to leave him locked in there for the whole day.”

Carmen shrugged. “Dash is fine; he just knows he can’t take us all down at once so he’s going to try and use Zack.”

They sat in silence, watching the news for nearly half an hour before Zack walked in, looking a bit angry and tired.

“It wasn’t a good idea to lock Dash in his room for so long.” He told them. “He told me that whenever he would fail an assignment, Countess Cleo would lock him up in his room-which he said was the size of a walk-in closet-for days on end with no food or water. She left him in there so long after his failure in Milan that he got sick from dehydration.

“He was afraid that we were gonna leave him in there for days, like Countess Cleo did. He’s got PTSD from his time at VILE, Carm; you should understand this better than anyone else. We can’t lock him in his room like that again; someone will have to stay with him next time. He’s sleeping now; try to be kinda quiet so he doesn’t wake up.”

Carmen glanced in the direction of Dash’s room, and honestly felt a bit bad. She had her own problems from her time at VILE, and understood that it wasn’t an issue that was unique to her. But still, she didn’t know if Dash could be trusted just yet, and she had to take all precautions necessary to protect her team.

“All of the paperwork is done, sir.” Magpie placed the stack of papers on Roundabout’s desk with a nod. “Do you have anything else you would like for me to get down?”

“Nothing else today, Margret; you are relieved for the evening.” He told the operative. “Be back here at nine sharp tomorrow morning.”

“Yes, sir!” She replied, heading towards the door.

Between being a member of the VILE Head Faculty and working undercover for the British government, Roundabout had found himself being spread very thin. He knew he needed an assistant but said assistant would have to not only be completely loyal but be able to accompany him within both of his lines of work without causing suspicion. Magpie had been an obvious choice.

Despite being twenty, Magpie was small and could easily pass for someone younger. This, along with her being a native Londoner, meant he could pass her off as a simple intern. While she had two years of VILE experience behind her so far, she was still young and impressionable, and Roundabout knew that if he put in the effort, he could mold her into the perfect operative.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dr. Vess belongs to Violetfic. I also do not own the image I used, it was from Google.
> 
> The next two Bits and Pieces with be about Blue Jay and Data. The first should be up in a week or so.
> 
> If you like the fic, please leave some feedback.


	9. My Enemies Enemy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ivy begins to realize that Dash isn't too different than they are, and feels bad for the way she's treated him. El Topo gets the news he's been anxiously waiting for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings for this chapter: Discussion of mental illness/disabilities

Magpie wasn’t as innocent as she liked to lead people to believe. She was a pathological liar, a kleptomaniac, and a sociopath according to the tests Professor Maelstrom had performed on her earlier. Psychological testing wasn’t standard for students or operatives at any point during their employment with VILE, but in some cases, it would be requested that Professor Maelstrom perform a psychological exam, other times he would elect to do it on his own. In Magpie’s case, he had decided on his own to do the testing.

It wasn’t a single incident that made him want to explore the way her mind worked, rather the sum of her behaviors during her time as a student. Most people would see Magpie as innocent and sweet, but Professor Maelstrom could easily see through her childish façade. She would lie and steal from her fellow students, and due to the way she acted, she was rarely suspect. Even when she did get caught, it was often brushed off as a mistake, or chalked up to her not knowing better.

To his trained eye, however, it was clear that Magpie knew what she was doing and fully understood the consequences of her actions; she just didn’t care. The operative was almost completely devoid of empathy and saw most people as tools she could use to get what she wanted.

Magpie knew exactly what was going on when Professor Maelstrom asked to see her after class-she was extremely clever and had always been good at reading people-but she didn’t care. She was aware that mentally she wasn’t completely normal. Normal people felt guilty for their actions whenever they did something wrong and she could count the number of times she’d felt so much as a shred of guilt on one hand.

_“You are a sociopath; that is a fact.” _Professor Maelstrom had explained to her once the evaluation had been completed. _“But here at VILE, that is far from a bad thing. You know how to read people like a book, and you don’t feel guilty for hurting and using them. You’re not physically strong, but I can see you as a valuable asset to VILE.” _

Magpie had developed her ability to read people and use them for personal gain as a coping method of sorts. She had spent a great deal of her life in the UK care system, being bounced around between foster homes and children’s homes until she turned sixteen and aged out of the system. She never had a chance to develop a strong bond with anyone, so it was easier if she did not feel empathy towards others.

Magpie enjoyed working under Roundabout, even if it meant she had to be away from the few people she actually considered friends, and her girlfriend, Nighthawk. She didn’t think Roundabout had actually bothered to read her file, or if he did, he didn’t believe Professor Maelstrom’s evaluation, as she doubted Roundabout would have made her his personal assistant otherwise. It was of the upmost importance that nobody in the British government be aware of anything that tied him to crime in any way, and if he had felt Magpie would betray him or anything else of that nature, he would not have chosen her.

She felt she was learning a lot from her new position. She had always done well with stealth, but this was a different kind of stealth. It was less about sneaking around in the shadows, and more about hiding in plain sight. Magpie was good at that sort of thing. She was a very petite woman who at the age of twenty could still pass as a teenager. She wasn’t the type people would normally expect to have criminal intent.

As of now, she had two powerful organizations at her disposal: VILE and the British Government. If Magpie played her cards right, she could use this opportunity to rise within the ranks of both. VILE was entering a new era, an era that would favor the stealthy and manipulative over the strong. This would be her era.

Ivy honestly felt really bad about how they had treated Dash recently. It had been obvious from day one that he had some psychological damage from his time within VILE, but since he had been a villain, with the exception of Zack, everyone seemed to be ignoring that fact, including herself to an extent.

Before they had left on their most recent caper, they weren’t thinking about if Dash was going to be okay or not; they were only worried about being able to contain him for the time they were gone without having to worry about him causing any trouble. He was a human being, and yet they were crating him like some sort of animal.

In hindsight, it seemed a bit cruel to lock _anyone _in a room for nearly a day against their will, especially when the people locking them in there were their former enemies. In that situation, the average person would probably be terrified of their possible fate, but this was made even worse by the fact that Countess Cleo used to lock Dash in his room for days on end without food or water, sometimes to the point of dehydration. He had probably assumed he was being tortured in the same way.

After his first encounter with Dash, during their first time dealing with Countess Cleo, Zack had told Ivy that he was extremely glad he didn’t work for VILE. When Ivy had asked him to elaborate, Zack told her about the way Countess Cleo had treated Dash the whole evening, assuming that was how all operatives were treated. Carmen later cleared this up, explaining that treatment of VILE operatives varied quite a bit, and Dash only received such harsh treatment because he was the Countess’s personal assistant. They had all assumed he’d voluntarily chosen his role and could have gone back to being a normal operative if he had wanted to, but that no longer seemed as if it was the case.

If Dash had felt that going back to the cruel treatment of Countess Cleo was a better option, it was pretty clear that they had screwed up. Carmen and her gang were supposed to be the good guys, and good guys didn’t force people to relive traumatic experiences.

It hadn’t been Ivy’s idea to lock Dash in his room; she had assumed that either Zack or herself would stay behind with him. But by not saying anything when Carmen announced the plan, in a way she was just as guilty. Ivy felt that if she ever wanted to get along with Dash, she would have to apologize and make up for it in some way.

Dash hadn’t left him room much in the past few days after the incident, and Ivy couldn’t blame him. Zack would bring him food, and spend some time with him now and then, but besides that, Dash hadn’t had much human interaction lately, although it wasn’t like he spent a lot of time around anyone besides Zack before this had occurred.

Dash had just started getting used to living with them, and getting comfortable with his surroundings, but having been locked in his room, a room he’d only spent a few days in thus far and had yet to make his own, had sent him back to square one. He was now just as fearful and avoidant of everyone except for Zack as he had been before.

It was very early in the morning when Ivy got an idea of how she could make it up to him and convince him not to leave them for VILE. Dash obviously wasn’t awake yet. In fact, it was so early that Shadow-San was still asleep. Ivy decided to go ahead with her plan, anyways, hoping to surprise Dash when he woke up. She retrieved her tools and got to work.

Dash was woken abruptly by the sound of an electric drill. He had always been a light sleeper and would normally chalk this up to construction outside waking him up, but the drilling sounded like it was coming from right outside his bedroom door. It was still dark outside, way too early for this nonsense.

“What the hell are you even doing out there?” He demanded. “First you lock me up, and now you deny me of sleep? Were you people trying to rescue me or torture me?”

The door opened to reveal Ivy standing there, holding a drill.

“Relax; I’m just taking the lock off the outside of your door.” She told him. “I’m leaving the latch on the inside intact so you can still lock your door from the inside. Don’t worry; we won’t mess with your stuff when you’re not in there.”

He just stared at her, not yet fully awake. “Why.”

“Because what we did was wrong.” Replied Ivy. “We know Carmen has her issues from her time with VILE, and we should’ve understood that you might have issues, too, and I’m sorry that we didn’t consider that when we locked you in your room without much warning. Now that the lock’s gone, you don’t have to worry about it happening ever again.”

“And Carmen is okay with this? I would certainly think she’d be against it, considering she still thinks all of this is some time of elaborate trick.”

Ivy hadn’t thought about that. “Well, uh, Carmen understands that you have trauma from your time with VILE, and once I tell her why I’m doing this, I’m sure she’ll be okay with it.”

As if on cue, Carmen and Shadow-San stormed down the hall, not looking so happy to have been woken up at such an early hour. Zack was nowhere to be found, presumably having slept through the entire event.

“Ivy; explain to us what is going on!” Demanded Shadow-San. “First you awaken the entire house with your drill, for the third time since we have moved in here, now I find you doing this?”

“Ivy, I though we’d agreed that it would be best if we kept Haber contained until we can trust him.” Said Carmen. “If we don’t have a lock on his door, we can’t leave him here alone when we go out on capers, which means either leaving someone behind, or trusting that Countess Cleo’s former assistant won’t run away and tell VILE where we are.”

Dash had retreated back into his room, closing and latching the door behind him. Ivy didn’t blame him for doing this.

“Carmen, Zack said-“

Carmen cut Ivy off. “Its too early for this; just everyone go back to bed for now, and we’ll talk about this later.”

Shadow-San nodded in agreement before heading back to his own room.

With a sigh, Ivy packed up her tools. It was usually Zack getting a lecture from Carmen and Shadow-San, but this time it would be her.

Computers were not Bobcat’s strong suit. She’d learned to make peace with newer technology over the years, but she was far from an expert. When she was young, if you wanted to play a video game, you needed to dig around for some quarters and haul your ass to the arcade to play the impressive for the time electronic games. Back when she had first joined VILE, most people still listened to music on cassette tapes.

Bobcat had no issues navigating her own database, but VILE’s files were a little more complicated than what she was used to. Instead of trying to figure it out herself, she let Carmen’s computer guy, a teen who went by Player, do it for her. He knew much more about technology than she did, and she knew more about the workings of VILE and how to cover one’s tracks, so it worked out pretty well.

Even with El Topo taking care of the housework, cooking, and some of the farm work, she didn’t have a lot of time to search for leads. She had a business to run, after all, and couldn’t afford to take too much time off, lest she get behind again. El Topo was fairly understanding of this fact, but seemed disappointed, nonetheless.

Finally, after what felt like weeks, they finally got a lead. VILE had plans to steal a priceless diamond from a private collector located only a few hours away from where Bobcat lived. Because of the insane security system the collector apparently had, in order to steal said diamond, an operative would have to scale the building without being spotted, climb inside through the skylight, and escape the same way they came in. Le Chevre would be the obvious choice.

Of course, they couldn’t just show up without a plan and expect Le Chevre to just go with it. As far as the operative knew, Bobcat was an ACME agent who had kidnapped El Topo and quite possibly brainwashed him into serving ACME. Not to mention, Carmen and her gang would also probably be there, as although this was a private collector, the diamond would apparently be donated to a museum after his death, meaning that if VILE were to steal it, it would never end up in a museum where the public could enjoy it.

Of course, they didn’t know for sure if Le Chevre would be the one sent out for this particular assignment. And even if he was, they had no way of knowing if he would be alone, or if there would be other operatives for them to deal with. Bobcat decided not to share this information with El Topo quite yet; she hadn’t even formed any sort of plan yet, and she didn’t want to get his hopes up for nothing.

Lonestar was one of Coach Brunt’s favorite operatives. He was strong, loyal, and on top of it all, Texan. It had been her idea to put him in charge of the mining operation. Sure, he had only graduated two years ago, but he had more than proved himself to be a good operative, and she couldn’t figure out how everything had gone so wrong.

She slammed her fists down on the table in rage. “I don’t get it! How in tarnation did Lonestar manage to mess that up? He could’ve taken her down real easy when she was distracted; he did everything right.”

“He did _almost_ everything right.” Corrected Dr. Bellum. “He placed the safety of Chameleon over the assignment and left El Topo and Blue Jay to fight Bobcat instead. Had Lonestar and Blue Jay worked together, their odds of success would have been much better.”

“While we won’t be punishing him due to his, well, impairment, I do not think we will be putting him in charge of any future assignments.” Agreed Countess Cleo.

Due to an accident that occurred while he’d participated in a rodeo before joining VILE, Lonestar had a fair bit of brain damage. It by no means kept him from being a successful VILE operative, it just meant he had to work a lot harder to get there.

“Frankly, I don’t know why we even put him in charge of that assignment in the first place.” Said Professor Maelstrom. “Sure, he is loyal, but the results of his psychological evaluation place his mental age around about 14-15, likely due to the brain damage and the trauma surrounding it. I don’t think he should be sent on another assignment until we can determine if your amateurish mistake has damaged him further, Coach Brunt.”

“It was no mistake putting him in charge.” Argued Brunt. “You all know he would’ve succeeded if it weren’t for Bobcat.”

Maelstrom chuckled. “Playing favorites again, I see? Please, everyone here knows exactly what you’re doing.”

“And what would that be?” She demanded.

“Its so obvious; you lost your little lamb, so you found a Labrador to fill the void you feel inside.” He told her. “You didn’t want to have to go through the heartbreak again, so this time you chose someone more obedient, someone who will always be just a little bit childish, someone who will always need you to be there to explain the world to him, so you chose Lonestar as a replacement for your little Lambikins.”

Unable to find a good comeback, Coach Brunt slammed her fists into the table once again. “Lonestar is perfectly fine! He just made a little mistake!”

Roundabout, who was communicating with the remotely finally spoke up. “Personally, I think that-“

Coach Brunt cut him off. “Shut up, Benji!”

She threw the device across the room, shattering it and abruptly ending the communication.

Despite him being their equal at this point, the other Head Faculty members had little respect for him. They couldn’t even be bothered to call him Roundabout, or even Benjamin; only Benji. In their eyes, he was still an operative they never talked face to face with, or Professor Maelstrom’s little fling. No matter how much he’d accomplished, they could just never take him seriously.

Professor Maelstrom sighed. “Moving on, I motion that we don’t send Lonestar out on any more assignments until I can at least perform another psychological evaluation to make sure he is not a risk to the organization. All in favor?”

Dr. Bellum and Countess Cleo both raised their hands.

“Well, Coach Brunt, I guess we outnumber you three to one.” He told her. “And to think, none of this would have even happened if you hadn’t decided to try and find a replacement for that traitor you used to be so fond of.”

Brunt didn’t even look him in the eye.

“And what of Le Chevre?” Asked Countess Cleo. “Is he ready to be sent back out on assignments?”

“He should be fine.” Replied Professor Maelstrom. “He showed a lot of negative behaviors after the initial incident but has calmed down quite a bit. We need his skillset for an approaching heist, and I think enough time has passed since the incident for him to be able to successfully complete it.”

It was a little later in the morning now, and everyone was now up. Carmen, Shadow-San, and Ivy were sitting in the living room. Zack was in the kitchen making breakfast. Dash still hadn’t left his room.

Ivy had talked with Zack about the early morning incident after Carmen and Shadow-San had headed back to bed. While Zack agreed with her actions, saying Dash seemed very uncomfortable with the idea of an exterior lock on his door, he had also told her that Carmen was still certain that Dash was still loyal to Countess Cleo and may have even assumed he was nothing more than a very good actor.

“Pancakes are in the kitchen.” Said Zack. “I’m going to go and bring some to Dash.”

“Ivy, I think it is time we discuss your actions this morning.” Said Shadow-San. “I simply cannot understand why you would think it would be a good idea to destroy our only method of keeping a VILE operative secure.”

“Former VILE operative.” Corrected Ivy. “I did it because Zack was right; Dash does have a lot of issues from his time at VILE, and we need to respect that. We’re supposed to be the good guys; we can’t just lock him up in a room like a prisoner, especially considering his reaction last time.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Carmen told her. “I was once part of VILE; I know how the operatives think. Haber has yet to give us a reason to trust him, and until he does, we need to stay vigilant.”

“He also hasn’t given us a reason _not _to trust him.” Argued Ivy. “And what about El Topo? Bobcat gives him free reign of her property, even when she’s not there, and you haven’t said anything about that. If anything, we should trust him even less, since he left VILE more recently.”

Carmen narrowed her eyes. “You leave Antonio out of this!”

“Oh, so just because he was your friend, we should just automatically trust him?”

As the arguing got louder, it became audible all the way in Dash’s room, when Zack and Dash had been talking.

“You know? I’m really starting to like your sister.” Said Dash.

Despite what Data had told him Le Chevre hadn’t given up the search for El Topo. There was a possibility he was still alive and well, and he was going to cling to that little ray of hope for as long as he could.

Initially when the Head Faulty had contacted him, Le Chevre had been worried that they found out he was still searching for El Topo. Professor Maelstrom had explicitly forbidden him from examining the matter further and considering that he’d also quite possibly put a high-profile search in jeopardy, he knew the consequences would be severe. Thankfully, Data hadn’t ratted him out, and even if the Head Faculty knew, they didn’t so much as mention it.

“Your behavior directly following the incident was unacceptable.” Professor Maelstrom told him. “But since then, we believe you have calmed down enough to return to your regular duties. And for this assignment in particular, your skillset is essential. Because of how you have been acting, this assignment is your chance to show that we made no mistake when we accepted you into this organization, and if you fail, you will not like the consequences. Understand?”

Le Chevre gave a nod. “_Oui_, I will not let you down.”

“Good. Do not disappoint me.”

Le Chevre knew that if he didn’t perform to the best of his abilities, the Head Faculty would realize something was up. For now, he had to do exactly what they told him, and pretend that he’d stopped caring about El Topo completely.

He stared at the picture of the shorter man that he always kept with him. “Do not worry, _Mon Amour_; I am coming.”

“So, you guys will help me with this?” Bobcat asked Carmen over the video chat.

“Of course.” Replied the younger woman. “Antonio and Jean-Paul are my friends; I would do anything to reunite them.”

“Wonderful, and you’ve gotten everything figured out?”

Carmen gave a nod. “Of course; we’d never take VILE on without a plan. Are you ready for this?”

“Honey, I’ve completed more difficult heists stoned out of my mind; of course, I’m ready.” She chuckled. “See you tomorrow.”

Carmen nodded again before ending the call.

“Sweetheart, get in here!” Bobcat yelled to El Topo in the other room. “I have something to tell you.”

“_Si_, what is it?” He questioned, making his way to where she sat.

“I have great news.” She told him. “Get your things ready tonight, because in the morning we’re heading out to get your boyfriend back.”

El Topo was overjoyed; he couldn’t believe it. “Really.”

“Of course, honey; I just waited until I was able to confirm everything with Carmen.”

He pulled Bobcat into a tight hug. “_Dios mio_, thank you for finding Jean-Paul; I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to repay you.”

“Sweetheart, I appreciate your gratitude, but can you please loosen your grip a bit?” Requested Bobcat. “You’re crushing me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Credit to Lotus Queen on Discord for Roundabout's name.
> 
> Next I'll be writing a Bits and Pieces about Magpie, should be up in a week or so.
> 
> As always, if you liked this, I would appreciate you leaving a comment.


	10. The Rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> El Topo and Le Chevre are united at last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings for this chapter: Some violence, a good deal of swearing.

For the first time in over a month, Carmen and her gang were back at Bobcat’s place. Zack wasn’t with them this time as Carmen had allowed him to stay back in San Diego with Dash. While they would technically be missing a member for this particular heist, Team Red would have two former VILE operatives on their side instead.

Bobcat hadn’t been on a _real _heist in seven years before shutting down VILE’s illegal mining operation not too long ago, but that experience reignited a flame inside herself that she had thought was gone forever. During her time at VILE Bobcat had been a ruthless and powerful operative. She loved what she did, and she did it well. Even when she had been getting on in age, she refused to quit.

After leaving VILE, Bobcat had taken up a quiet life as a small-town veterinarian in order to keep VILE from finding her. While she did enjoy caring for the animals, her life was lacking the danger and adventure she so craved. Despite still being wrapped up in the criminal world, and occasionally leading vigilante raids on puppy mills, she could never seem to recapture the same feeling she felt while working for VILE.

Bobcat knew that if given the choice, she would continue to assist Team Red for as much as possible, for as long as possible. Sure, it would put her a little behind with the clinic, but it was a small price to pay, and she was planning on hiring a new employee, anyways. Maybe after this was all over, and she got around to giving El Topo a new identity, she could even have him help out around the clinic. She didn’t know anything about Le Chevre, but if he was anything like his boyfriend, he would probably be down to help out, too.

“Okay, so here’s what’s going to happen.” Said Carmen. “Shadow-San and Bobcat will sneak into the property during the day to scope it out since they have the most experience with this type of thing. Player has been able to hack into the security cameras inside and outside the mansion, along with hacking the owner’s Roomba in order to create a complete map of the place.

“Phase two will happen at night. Using the information we’ve gathered in phase one, we will have El Topo dig us a tunnel that leads to the most hidden place within the mansion’s fence. Antonio and I will be waiting by the skylight to confront Jean-Paul, as he is most likely to listen to the two of us. Bobcat and Shadow-San will guard the tunnel and whatever entrance Jean-Paul decides to use respectively.

“Once we’re able to get Jean-Paul to come with us-“

“If.” Corrected Bobcat. “If we’re able to convince Jean-Paul to come with us.”

“Jean-Paul _will _come with us.” Said El Topo. “He would not choose VILE over me any day.”

Bobcat shrugged. “Sweetheart, as far as he knows, you could’ve been brainwashed by ACME and this could all be a trap. There’s certainly a chance he’ll try to take you down.”

“Why ya gotta be so negative?” Asked Ivy. “Do you want him to give up hope just like that?”

“I’m not being negative; I’m being realistic.” She argued. “These things don’t always go as planned and I don’t want Antonio to be crushed if this goes wrong.”

Shadow-San nodded in agreement. “It has been about 32 years since Bobcat and I have graduated from VILE academy, and from our class of 40 graduates, only five of us are still alive, including Roundabout, Bobcat, and myself. As someone who has already lost two of his close friends, I would expect Antonio to be a little less naïve.”

“Two?” Questioned Carmen. “You mean me and Gray?”

El Topo looked at the ground. “No, it was Mime Bomb; he got caught. None of us even bothered to learn his real name before he was gone. We never got around to learning who he was, or even trying to communicate with him.”

During her time at VILE academy, Carmen hadn’t payed much attention to the mime herself. She had tried to make friends with him at first, but even before he started dressing up as a mime, he never talked. Carmen didn’t even know if he actually _could _talk.

She placed a hand on El Topo’s shoulder. “Antonio, I’m so sorry. I’ve missed so much, haven’t I?”

He gave a silent nod.

Feeling this was going to go on a while, Bobcat intervened. “I understand you’re having a moment here, but we really need to get going as soon as possible if we want to have enough time to scout the location. You two can talk on the ride there.”

Bobcat’s van simply wasn’t meant to fit five people. It only had three seats up front and no seats in the back. The back was cluttered with her supplies, meaning there was just enough room back there for a couple of sheep at most.

Bobcat drove, and Shadow-San and Ivy sat up front with her. Carmen and El Topo both sat in the back of the van, hoping Bobcat wouldn’t be taking too many sharp turns or stopping too suddenly. It was already a bit cramped back there with just the two of them, and Carmen knew it would be much worse when they drove back with Le Chevre in tow.

Zack had to admit, it was kind of boring at home sometimes. Usually he’d have someone to talk to, but even Player was busy at the moment, and Dash was much more interested in binge watching Project Runway (and making snide comments about it to nobody in particular) than he was in making conversation.

They were both seated on the same couch, sitting fairly close to one another. While Dash was becoming more and more comfortable with Zack, and was starting to become more friendly to Ivy, if he were to walk into the living room and see only Shadow-San and/or Carmen sitting there, he was usually turn and leave. Even if Zack or Ivy was in there with him, he would always be a bit jumpy around the two former VILE operatives.

When it was just the two of them like this, Dash was always super relaxed. This time in particular, he was so comfortable, he did something that surprised the both of them. He leaned over towards Zack and pulled him in for a kiss.

As much as Zack wanted this, he quickly shoved the other man away. He knew Dash was still emotionally vulnerable from everything that had happened, and he felt that if he allowed his to continue, he would be taking advantage of him.

Dash looked incredibly embarrassed for his actions.

“I’m terribly sorry.” He muttered. “Its just, I’ve never felt an emotional connection with another person like I have with you. Every other man who has ever tried to get close to me like this had only wanted that one thing, but not you. I’m stupid for thinking this meant anything.”

Dash got up and started heading in the direction of his room, but Zack yelled after him, causing him to stop.

“Dash, wait!” He shouted. “Its not that I don’t like you. If I’m being completely honest, I’ve had a crush on you since the first time we met. I think that you’re a really great guy, but you’ve been through a lot lately, and you’re still kinda vulnerable. I think we should wait on this, just to make sure its what you really want.”

“But if both of us want this, I don’t see any reason in waiting.” Argued Dash. “Unless you’re afraid of what your teammates might think.”

Zack motioned for Dash to sit back down by him again. “For now, I think we should just take things slow. This isn’t about my teammates-although I know Ivy wouldn’t care-its about you. I don’t want to hurt you, Dash. For now, I think we should take things slow. We both enjoy each other’s company, so lets just keep it like it is for now.”

Dash knew arguing wasn’t going to get him anywhere, so he simply moved to sit back with Zack. After all, he did have a few more seasons of Project Runway to catch up on.

Le Chevre hadn’t been on an assignment in weeks. He hadn’t exactly been training, either. He had been so focused on finding any clues that might lead him back to El Topo, that he simply didn’t have time. Normally, he wouldn’t take so much as a day off from training, but considering how much training he’d done _before _the incident occurred, he figured he’d still be fine to complete a simple assignment like this one.

As much as Le Chevre wanted to focus all his energy into finding his boyfriend, he knew the head faculty would grow suspicious if he didn’t do well on this assignment, and if he were to get mindwiped, he never would reunite with El Topo. As he readied himself for the assignment, he knew he would have to succeed if he ever wanted to see his partner again.

Bobcat and Shadow-San hadn’t been on a heist together in nearly twenty years. After they had initially graduated, they had worked together fairly regularly. They were both skilled in stealth and worked together extremely well. After Shadow-San became a member of the head faculty, however, he stopped going on heists. Bobcat mostly went on heists with another operative named Blackjack after that, up until his death, at least. From then on, until she faked her death, she was somewhat of a lone wolf, rarely if ever working with others.

Bobcat glanced at Shadow-San from across their hiding spot. “Just like old times, Suhara.”

He nodded in agreement. “Just like old times.”

Except it was nothing like old times. Blackjack, Sniper, and El Cuervo were all dead. Shadow-San and Bobcat were both in their fifties. They weren’t working for VILE anymore, either.

As far as any of them knew, only four people had ever successfully escaped from VILE with their memory and life intact. And all four of those people were here working this very heist. After her own escape, Bobcat sometimes wondered if other operatives _had _escaped before, as it was certain if VILE knew about any, they would deny the operatives very existence, or claimed that they had been killed.

As Bobcat observed the building, she spotted a very familiar face.

“Wait a minute; I know that guy.” She told Shadow-San. “Things just got _much _easier.”

She stepped out of their hiding place and motioned to Shadow-San to follow her to the front door. Normally, he would have tried to stop the other person from blowing both of their covers, but Bobcat knew what she was doing, and he knew nothing of her time before VILE, so he followed her to the door without a word.

She rang the doorbell, and they were soon greeted by the owner of the house who looked more than a little shocked to see her.

“Chrysanthemum?” He gasped. “Is that really you? I’d remember that face anywhere, even after all these years, but it can’t be Chrysanthemum died 32 years ago.”

Shadow-San shot Bobcat a look. They had both enrolled in VILE academy 32 years ago, meaning that she had pulled this little stunt not long before, and had faked her death at least twice (he assumed the number was higher). Not to mention, from the little he knew about her past this guy was probably an ecoterrorist. Bobcat gave a shrug in response, and he didn’t push the matter forward.

“I got better.” She said simply. “Nice play you’ve got here. How’s the rest of our old crew doing?”

“I haven’t seen them in thirty years, even since I left to start my clean energy company.” He told her. “I do know that Kookaburra died a few years back, and Tigerlily has a family now, but as for the rest, they’ve all either gone of the grid, or been sent to prison. What have you been doing for the last 32 years?”

Bobcat shrugged. “Its complicated. Anyways, we didn’t come here to talk. Don’t ask me how I know this, but your house is going to be robbed tonight. The group that is planning this attack is darker and far more dangerous than any organized crime group that is know to the public. Trust me, I used to be a part of it. The police can’t help you, either; law enforcement doesn’t stand a chance against them.

“Because of a certain member of this group that’s being sent on this heist, we’re here to intervene, as we think we can convince him to leave the organization behind and come with us. I have a small crew that is more than strong enough to take him down, and we can stop him if you trust me enough to lest me go through with my plan. Do you still trust me, Jackal?”

He gave a nod. “Of course, I do, Chrysanthemum. I’ve put my trust in you before, and I won’t hesitate to do it again.”

Bobcat turned to Shadow-San. “Looks like we’re in business.”

Dash wouldn’t really count any of his past relationships as romantic. Most of the time, the dates were set up by Countess Cleo, usually to further some kind of VILE plot. The men always found him quite attractive, and he could usually get what he needed from them.

But these were more of business transactions than actual dates. He could never relax around the men; he always had to stay on guard. He couldn’t show a single imperfection until he had what he needed, lest he invoke the Countess’s wrath.

Zack was different. He had been extremely nice and caring towards Dash, even from the start. And as far as Dash could tell, he didn’t have any ulterior motives, even if he _did _find the other man to be quite attractive.

Although he never said it, Dash had found Zack to be appealing the first time they had met as well. He loved the certain awkward charm the red head had, the way he was trying desperately to stay in character, it just bothered him how it was all being wasted on the Countess. Dash had only been trying to expose Zack as a fraud out of an odd sort of jealousy.

Dash knew Zack was right. Nobody had really cared about him in quite a while, and the Countess’s behaviors towards him were borderline abusive. Having somebody treat him so well was a completely new experience, and it just made him what to throw himself at Zack without any resistance.

Dash would have liked to be able to say he was okay, but at this point, he didn’t know anymore. He knew he was in a bad place emotionally while in VILE, but was his situation any better now? All the uncertainty, the unsureness about himself, it scared him. Zack was completely right; they should take things slow for now and just see what would happen.

Carmen usually liked to keep civilian involvement in heists to a minimum-lest someone get hurt or learn something they shouldn’t know-but Bobcat seemed to know what she was doing when she got Jackal involved. Even after not having seen her in over thirty years, the man had trusted her completely, even if what she told him had sounded ridiculous.

As far as they could tell, Le Chevre was the only operative being sent out on this assignment, the plan mostly surrounded cornering him so El Topo and Carmen could talk to him. Ivy had rigged an entrance for him, making it an obvious path of least resistance, but keeping it discrete enough to not appear like a trap.

Once Le Chevre had entered the property, Bobcat would block off the entrance, so he couldn’t leave the same way he came in. Shadow-San would help Carmen and El Topo to corner him so that they could talk to him. When they were able to convince Le Chevre to leave VILE, they would all head back to Bobcat’s place.

“Le Chevre has entered the vicinity.” Said Shadow-San over the communication channel. “Began stage two of the plan.”

As soon as El Topo spotted the taller man, he wanted to run out and hug him, but knew that would be a bad idea. They had to stick to the plan, and besides that, Le Chevre had incredibly fast reflexes, and might strike the shorter man before noticing who he was.

It wasn’t long before they had Le Chevre cornered by the fence surrounding the property. Just as he was about to strike, he recognized the two figures surrounding him.

“_Mon chou_, you are okay!” He shouted. “But I thought you were taken by ACME, why is _she _here?”

“I was not taken by ACME; Bobcat rescued me.” El Topo explained. “She is not part of ACME, but she used to be a VILE operative. Carmen Sandiego helped set up this heist to rescue you. Come with us, _mi amor_; Bobcat promised she would help us leave VILE behind.”

Le Chevre was skeptical. “VILE is hunting this woman down as we speak; she is dangerous. We would be much safer returning to VILE.”

“Maybe that would work for you, but Antonio doesn’t really have the option of going back to VILE.” Said Carmen. “As far as they’re concerned, he’s been captured by ACME, and as soon as he returns to VILE, he’ll be mindwiped.”

“What am I supposed to do, then?” He demanded. “I can’t just abandon my assignment.”

Shadow-San suddenly appeared beside Carmen. “You must make a choice. Which is more important to you, Antonio or VILE?”

Le Chevre looked at Shadow-San and then back at El Topo. “I choose Antonio. I love you more than anything else in the world, _mon amour_, I will go to the ends of the Earth with you if I need to.”

Antonio pulled his boyfriend into a tight hug. “I love you too, Jean-Paul, and I can’t wait to start the rest of our lives together. Let’s hurry up and get out of here; Bobcat has been letting me stay in her house, and she said it would be okay for you to live there, too.”

Le Chevre was still extremely skeptical of the woman’s intentions, but if El Topo could trust her so much after knowing her for such a short time, she couldn’t be too bad of a person.

The ride back to Bobcat’s farm was fairly calm. Bobcat was chatting away about her adventures with Jackal and the rest of her crew that she had before, joining VILE, and El Topo and Le Chevre were catching up on the time they had been apart.

This calmness was broken, however, when they had just crossed into Colorado, and Le Chevre’s communicator suddenly went off. Bobcat recognizing the very distinct ring, quickly pulled the van over with so much force that the three passengers in the back were suddenly slammed into the wall of the van.

“Why the hell didn’t you ditch that thing already?” She demanded. “VILE has tracking devices in all their electronics. Had it not gone off now, they could’ve tracked us down all the way to my house. Do you know what VILE would do to you if they knew you were working for me?”

This was the first time El Topo had seen Bobcat actually get angry. There wasn’t much that set her off, but when something did, the 5’4”, 55-year-old woman was terrifying.

“Give it to me!” She demanded. “And step out of the van; I need to search you for anything else that could have a tracking device.”

Le Chevre looked over to El Topo, who gave him a look that said, “Just do what she tells you.” Without a word, he handed over his communicator, and stepped out of the van. Bobcat threw the device to the ground and smashed it with her foot, making sure the device was fully disabled. She then pulled out a lighter and lit the rubble on fire for good measure.

“Alright, now strip!” She demanded. “If I can’t trust you to ditch your communicator in a timely manner, I sure as fuck can’t trust you to not be hiding anything on your person. Strip down and hand over your clothes!”

From the way she had treated him thus far, El Topo had never imagined Bobcat to be capable of such aggression. And yet here she was, ordering Le Chevre to strip down by the side of the road.

“I will not strip down by the side of the road!” He protested.

Bobcat pulled out a gun and pointed it at his head. “Fucking do it!”

Le Chevre glared at her but stripped down and handed over his clothes without complaint. After Bobcat had searched him to her satisfaction, she handed back his clothes and put her gun away.

As they reentered the van, Bobcat turned to El Topo. “Sorry, if I scared you, sweetheart, but VILE tracking me down is the last thing I need right now.”

The rest of the way back to Bobcat’s farm was eerily quiet.

Crowley has getting irritated again. Yet another lead on Bobcat had turned up a dead end, and they were running out of ideas. Just as he was about to give up on ever finding the woman, a late-night call from Data changed everything.

“Heidi, I was sleepin’.” He yawned into his communicator. “This better be important.”

_“It is.” _She told him. _“It seemed the goat has gone MIA. The assignment he was on was nothing out of the ordinary for his skillset and he should have easily succeeded. The strangest part is that his communicator stopped working in Colorado, which is a bit a way away from where the heist was taking place.”_

Crowley smirked. “Thank ye, Data; ye’ve been nothin’ but helpful these last few weeks.”

Crowley finally had a search area, and maybe even a witness to interrogate if the owner of the property had seen anything. The pieces were all coming together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No Bits and Pieces for this chapter, but the next chapter of this should be up in a week or so.
> 
> As always, if you liked this, please leave some feedback.


	11. The Eye of the Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Le Chevre and Bobcat still aren't getting along, but that is about to change.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings for this chapter: violence

As soon as they arrived back at Bobcat’s place, El Topo immediately headed for the barn.

“I have something to show you, Jean-Paul.” He told Le Chevre. “Wait here; I will be back in just a second.”

As Le Chevre was wondering what was so important in the barn, the shorter man suddenly returned carrying one of Bobcat’s pygmy goats.

“A tiny _Chevre_.” He remarked. “Bobcat has a few of these, I will show you the others later.”

Le Chevre wasn’t exactly happy with having a farm animal shoved in his face. “Antonio, put that thing down before it kicks you in the face!”

“Buttons would never do such a thing.” Said Bobcat. “She’s really taken a liking to Antonio.”

Buttons seemed much more interested in trying to eat El Topo’s shirt than she was in what else was going on around her.

“_Si, _Buttons is a good girl.” Replied El Topo. “She does not want to hurt anyone. Would you like to hold her, _mi amor_? She is a very friendly goat.”

Le Chevre really didn’t want to hold a dirty farm animal. “Maybe later, _mon chou_. I am assuming we will be staying with Carmen?”

El Topo shook his head. “We cannot fly back with Carmen and the others; we do not have any documentation needed for air travel. For now, we will be staying with Bobcat. Her farm is nice, I think you will like it here, too. She promised she would get us new identities soon so that we can go into town.”

Le Chevre was less than thrilled to be stuck living with Bobcat for the time being. First, she kidnapped El Topo, then she forced him to strip down by the side of the road simply because he’d neglected to ditch his communicator earlier on. Bobcat didn’t seem to like him that much, either, treating everything that he did as suspicious, even though she hadn’t been around him too long. But El Topo liked Bobcat, and Bobcat liked El Topo, so Le Chevre figured he could put up with her behavior for now.

“I have to go and drive Carmen and the others to the airport.” Said Bobcat. “Antonio, please keep an eye on your boyfriend so that he doesn’t cause me anymore issues. I don’t want to have lock him in the basement like I did with you, but I won’t hesitate to do so if need be.”

Le Chevre shot Bobcat a murderous glare. “You locked Antonio in your basement?”

She simply shrugged. “I didn’t want him running around, alerting VILE to our location, resulting in him getting mindwiped and me getting killed. The important thing is that I let him out, and he has forgiven me, right Antonio?”

El Topo gave a cheerful nod. “_Si_, Bobcat is a nice person, she only locked me up to protect me from VILE and myself. You will like her eventually; give it some time.”

Bobcat smiled at him in return. “I’ll be back soon; Antonio, why don’t you give Jean-Paul the grand tour while I’m gone?”

Le Chevre shot Bobcat another glare, but she either didn’t notice or didn’t care.

“And this is the barn.” El Topo told Le Chevre, showing him around the building. “Bobcat has many animals, and I have been helping her take care of them. Over there are Buttons and her daughter Lily, the sheep, Scruffy, Sugar, Ginger, Dolly, and Iris, the steer, Boulder and Tank, and the horses, Sage, Coral, and Rhubarb. The chickens and the ducks have a coop outside, but they do not have names.”

The barn was more than large enough to hold all the animals, and Bobcat had even modified the space by removing the dividers between some of the stalls to create bigger spaces for her animals. They were really more of pets than anything else.

“How has Bobcat been treating you?” Asked Le Chevre. “Other than locking you up in her basement when she first kidnapped you.”

“Bobcat is a very nice person; she is just a bit paranoid.” Replied El Topo. “She is not a lot different than us; you will like her once you get to know her. She was cold to me at first, but it was her idea to rescue you. Give it time, she will warm up to you.”

“VILE says she is dangerous; we should not trust her. She was an operative who killed many people over the course of decades, I do not doubt she would do it again.”

“She escaped from VILE, _mon amor_, of course they will say she is dangerous.” Argued El Topo. “And she only killed people because VILE told her to, she is no different than any other operative.”

“They have sent operatives to kill her. I know Data is one of the operatives, and while I do not know the other, I think it may be Neal or Crowley. If Bobcat does not kill us, they will.”

“Bobcat will protect us.” The shorter man assured him. “She is very strong, even if she does not look it. We are safer with her than we ever were with VILE.”

Le Chevre simply wasn’t ready to trust Bobcat, no matter what El Topo might tell him.

Crowley kicked down the mansion door with a mixture of excitement and rage, stealth be damned. He finally had a lead and he was going to use it.

Not only had this place been where the assignment Le Chevre had gone missing on occurred, but Data had managed to hack into the security cameras, and find video of Bobcat, Shadow-San, Carmen Sandiego, and El Topo all being present at the location at the time out the failed heist, but Bobcat talking with the owner of the house earlier in the day. The cameras lacked sound so Crowley could not tell what the were talking about, but from the way they interacted, it was clear they knew each other.

A burly man with a gun holstered to his belt, a cheap attempt at security in Crowley’s mind, tried to stop him, but Crowley took the man out with a lead pipe to the head before he could even pull his gun out. He didn’t have time for this.

The mansion was huge, and it took Crowley a while to find the man who owned it. On his search, he encountered more security guards, but they were no match for his VILE training. He finally found the man he was looking for, in a study located in a tucked away corner of the mansion.

The man turned around in surprise when he heard the door open behind him. “Who are you, and how did you get in here?”

Grabbing the man by the collar, Crowley slammed him against the nearest wall. “Where the fook is she?”

The man seemed confused. “Where’s who? Safe for my staff, I live alone.”

Crowley retaliated by slamming him into the wall again. “Don’t play games with me, ye old bastard, I ain’t got time fer that shit. Bobcat, ye dumb fook!”

“Bobcat? I don’t think I know anyone by that name. Look, you’ve clearly taken down my security guards, so just take what you want from my collection and leave, I don’t want any trouble.”

Crowley smacked the man across the face. “I don’t need yer shit. That burd ye were talkin’ to yesterday. Where is she?”

“I honestly have no idea where she went.” Replied the man. “I don’t even know her real name; only that she went as Chrysanthemum for a while. I hadn’t seen her in over thirty years before she suddenly showed up at my doorstep yesterday telling me that some organization she used to be part of was going to rob my house and that she could prevent it.

“She was with an Asian man about the same age as her when I first saw her, and later she showed up with a crew that consisted off a red headed girl, a young man that was fairly short and spoke with a Spanish accent, and a young lady dressed all in red, I would say they were all in their early twenties. The fellow that tried to steal from me was French and in his twenties as well. They took him with them when they left, but I don’t have the foggiest idea where they left to.”

So not only was Bobcat alive and well in someplace he still hadn’t figured out, she was also working with Carmen Sandiego and Shadow-San. Killing a woman who was technically old enough to be his mother was becoming more and more of a headache than he’d ever imagined.

“Yer fookin’ useless!” He shouted, smashing his lead pipe into the man’s head.

Enraged, he hit the unconscious man in the head with the pipe over and over again. After he’d calmed down a bit and his aggression had subsided, he lit a match and tossed it into a pile of papers for good measures and climbed out the window. He sped away on his motorcycle as the mansion burned behind him.

Zack was flipping through the tv channels bored out of his mind. Dash had developed a headache about an hour ago and had decided to take a nap, Ivy was off working on some sort of project, he had no idea of where Shadow-San was, and Carmen was sitting on the other couch. She hadn’t been paying attention to the tv until a news story popped up, displaying a picture of a man Zack didn’t recognize.

“Breaking news coming in from Kansas as a millionaire was found murdered in his home.” Announced the reporter. “Fire fighters entered the home of 58-year-old Jack Booth and discover the man, along with a few hired security guards, dead from multiple blows to the head. Mr. Booth was beaten much more severely than any of the guards.”

“That’s the guy from yesterday.” Gasped Carmen. “VILE must’ve gone after him after Jean-Paul disappeared. He died because of us.”

Hearing the commotion, both Ivy and Shadow-San entered the living room and turned their attention to the TV. The screen was now displaying a grainy security camera photo of a man in his early thirties with jet black hair, sunglasses, and a leather jacket.

“While most of the security cameras were destroyed in the fire, this image was captured of the suspect on one of the surviving ones.” Said the reporter. “If you have any information on the identity of this man, it is vital that you call the anonymous tip line at the bottom of the screen immediately.”

“Carm, do you know that guy?” Asked Zack, pointing at the screen. “I thought VILE was smart enough to not get caught on security cameras.”

“Not much.” Admitted Carmen. “I know that he’s a VILE operative called Crowley, and that he’s considered to be extremely dangerous, but that’s all.”

“Crowley is one of my former students.” Said Shadow-San. “From day one, he had issues with anger. I tried on multiple occasions to help him, but it was evident that he had deep rooted issues that were beyond my scope. Despite his behavior, I could tell that at one point he had been a good person, and it was clear that he did have a group of friends he cared about.

“About seven year back there was an incident where his behavior got way out of hand and he assaulted two of his friends, going as far as stabbing one of them. He doesn’t think when his emotions flair like that, and he may not have realized the cameras were there in the first place. If VILE went through the trouble of sending Crowley out, it means they want someone dead; my guess would be Bobcat.”

“Should we call her?” Asked Carmen.

Shadow-San gave a nod. “She does not own a TV, so she may not have seen the news.”

Carmen went into the other room to call Bobcat, the woman picked up after three rings.

_“Please say you don’t need another favor already.” _Said Bobcat. _“I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, sweetheart, but I’m old. I don’t have the energy to do this every day anymore.”_

“Bobcat, this is really important, you need to know that-“

_“Crowley killed Jackal and is probably planning on killing me; I know, I read it online.” _She interrupted sounding way too calm and collected for the situation at hand. _“I’ll deal with it later; I’ve kinda got a lot of things going on right now, and since he doesn’t know anything about where I am-Jackal knew even less than he did-he won’t be able to track me down easily. Your friends will be just fine; I will protect them with my life if need be.”_

“But you know Crowley, aren’t you worried about him finding and killing you.”

Bobcat sighed. _“Sweetheart, I’ve been at this point in my life where I realize I should have died years ago for quite a while. If he kills me, he kills me; I’m not worried. I’m not suicidal or anything like that, I wouldn’t purposely harm myself; I just don’t care if I die. Now, if that’s all you need from me, I really must be getting back to work. Talk later.”_

Bobcat hung up without another word.

“I’m assuming she doesn’t care.” Said Shadow-san.

“Not even a little bit.” Confirmed Carmen. “Has she always been like this?”

“More or less.” Replied Shadow-San. “She became worse after Blackjack’s death. It happened when you were eight; you were not close to him and likely do not remember him.”

Carmen didn’t know much about Blackjack, other than the fact that he was friends with Shadow-San and Bobcat when they were still in VILE academy, and that she was told never to bring him up in front of Bobcat, as it probably wouldn’t end well. Knowing his death was a touchy subject, she didn’t push further.

El Topo had always been afraid of thunderstorms, ever since he was little. He didn’t mind little rain shower, or the mud they left behind, but something about the rain beating down aggressively, the booming thunder, the electric streaks of lightening crashing across the sky, always shook him to the core. So when Bobcat mentioned the forecast called for a big storm in the near future El Topo became quite anxious.

Normally during a storm, he would burrow underground and wait it out. Bobcat, however, had told him that he wasn’t allowed to go around digging up her property. The only time he was really allowed to interact with the dirt was when he was helping out in her garden, a chore he found to be quite enjoyable.

None of his former roommates had ever given him issue about it, but El Topo always felt ashamed of having such a childish fear. He felt he should have grown out of it by now-after all, he was 22-but no matter how hard he tried, the first crack of thunder always sent him running.

El Topo figured this was as good of a time as any to try and get over his fear. He would likely never stop being afraid of heights, but he felt that fear made sense; you could easily fall from a high place and end up as nothing more that a pancake on the pavement below. But the average person had a very low chance of being struck by lightning. He knew this, so why was he still afraid.

El Topo was in the garden with Bobcat in the midafternoon on a Sunday when he looked up and saw how dark the sky had gotten. Bobcat seemed to notice to, as she started packing up her gardening tools.

“Storms a brewin’.” She told him. “Good thing I put the animals away early; not sure how long this is going to hold off. Help me grab the tools, and we’ll head inside before we get soaked.”

El Topo gave a worried glace at the sky, before helping Bobcat with her tools. The woman didn’t seem to notice his fear.

“I do not feel like cooking today.” She said, glancing at her watch. “How does pizza sound, sweetheart?”

El Topo was still focused on the sky.

“Honey? Is something the matter?”

He turned his attention back to Bobcat. “I am fine. _Si_, pizza sounds good.”

Bobcat didn’t seem to believe him but didn’t push the matter further. “Alright, pizza it is. I’ll order some breadsticks, wings, and maybe some of those cinnamon sticks, too. Do you think two large pizzas will be enough? I’m not used to ordering food for more than one person.”

El Topo knew that would be more than enough food, even if all three of them were very physically active and ate more than the average person. Any leftover pizza could be heated up and served later as an additional meal, which meant one less meal to cook.

He gave a nod, picked up the rest of the gardening tools, and followed Bobcat inside.

After putting away the gardening tools in the proper cupboard, Bobcat headed into the kitchen to call for pizza. El Topo took a seat next to Le Chevre on the couch. The taller man put down his book and wrapped an arm around his partner.

“There is a thunderstorm coming, _mon chou_.” He told El Topo. “Do you think you will be okay?”

“_Si, _I am not as afraid of storms as I once was.” He lied. “I will be okay.”

Le Chevre gave him a doubtful look but didn’t say anything.

The pizza arrived before the rain did, about half an hour after Bobcat ordered it. The pizza place was about fifteen minutes away from her house, but since Bobcat was a high tipper, they always gave her food priority. Bobcat paid for the food, handed the boxes off to El Topo, and grabbed a stack of paper plates and napkins from the pantry.

El Topo was used to eating pizza when out on assignments. It was quick, cheap, and could be delivered to a hotel room, which made it the go to option for a lot of operatives. He never minded it, though, and the pizza Bobcat had ordered looked better that the stuff he would usually have.

Just as El Topo was about to take his first bite, he was startled by a clap of thunder in the distance. The slice of pizza slipped out of his hand and fell to his plate. Le Chevre shot him a worried glance, but Bobcat seemed oddly excited.

“We haven’t had a good storm in weeks.” She said. “We needed it.”

“You _like_ storms?” El Topo asked uncertainly.

She gave a nod. “Always have, ever since I was a little kid. I’ve always loved the excitement of a storm, the way the rain seems to just wash everything away. It was even better back when I was still living on the island, and I could watch the waves seize up against the shore. Everyone thought I was crazy for wanting to be out in the storm, sometimes a concerned operative, thinking I had finally lost it, would come out, pick me up, and carry me to the infirmary. I guess they were afraid I was going to get struck by lightning or something.”

Oddly enough, all the things that excited Bobcat were the things that most terrified El Topo. He had especially feared the storms while on the island, as he always worried the waves would swallow up the shore and drown the entire island.

“You _are _crazy.” Said Le Chevre. “A sane person does not stand out in the middle of a storm for the fun of it. How are you not dead?”

Bobcat shrugged. “Frankly, I have no idea. Most of the operatives from my year are dead, and I have had my share of near-death experiences. Not to mention the pills, marijuana, and alcohol.”

Bobcat spent pretty much the rest of the meal recounting all the ways she had almost died over the years.

After dinner had ended and Bobcat had put away the rest of the food, the storm started to really pick up. It was beginning to make El Topo more and more anxious, but he assured himself he was tough enough to get through it.

When Bobcat could no longer stand just watching the storm from the window, she decided to step out and experience it, not even bothering to grab a raincoat. Le Chevre ran after her, screaming that she would freeze to death out there. While the other two were outside, a particularly loud clap of thunder alarmed El Topo and sent him running to the lowest place he could access, the basement.

A few minutes later, a wet and angry Le Chevre walked through the front door, an equally wet, but not at all angry, Bobcat following behind him.

“Do you not realize you could get sick and die from the rain?” Said Le Chevre. “You are not as young as you once were.”

“Hey, 55 isn’t that only.” Replied Bobcat. “And I am not frail, either; I kicked three of your teammates asses when I shut down that mining operation of yours. In fact-“

Bobcat was suddenly interrupted by the lights going out.

“Well, that’s just great.” She said with a sight. “Antonio, be a dear and fetch me those flashlights from the kitchen drawer; I think at least one of them works.”

She got no response.

“Sweetheart, can you hear me?” She called out. “I need to know that you’re okay.”

Again, silence. Bobcat was starting to get worried that something might have happened to him. After all, Crowley was currently hunting her down, and if a traitor of VILE got in his way, he would take no issue in ending their life.

She turned to Le Chevre. “Get the flashlights from the drawer for me. There are two pistols in there, too. If something happened to Antonio, we will need to protect ourselves. They should still be loaded.”

“Why do you have guns in your junk drawer?” He asked her.

“Because I never have any kids or idiots ‘round here.” She told him. “That’s not important right now. I need you to stick with me; you’re still a bit green, and I’m not as strong as I used to be, but if we’re together, we have a much better chance of survival.”

“And you are certain Crowley has caused this?”

Bobcat shook her head. “Of course not, but he is hunting me down, and I have made more than a few other enemies in my time, so it never hurts to be prepared.”

They checked the first floor first, making sure to barricade any entrances in case a threat was hiding just outside, waiting to blindside them. Next, they searched the second floor, no threats and no El Topo either. Finally, they searched the last floor; the basement.

As Bobcat approached the door to the room in her basement where she had initially kept El Topo, she expected either a dead body or a hostage situation. Not wanting to give her enemy any opportunity, she kicked down the flimsy interior door. Instead of Crowley or another person with intentions to kill her, she only found El Topo, curled up in a corner of the room.

Bobcat walked over and knelt down beside him. “What’s the matter, sweetheart? Why are you down here? We searched this house from top to bottom and couldn’t find a single threat.”

El Topo didn’t reply.

“He is very afraid of thunderstorms.” Said Le Chevre. “He would normally dig a hole and hide in it until the storm is over, but since you are not letting him do that, he hid in the lowest place he could reach. He was probably startled when the power went out.”

Bobcat put a hand on El Topo’s shoulder. “Why didn’t you tell me this, honey? I could’ve helped you if I knew you would be afraid.”

“I should not be afraid of thunder.” He replied. “It is a stupid thing to fear.”

“No, its not.” She assured him. “Storms _are_ dangerous, the only reason I go out in them is because I lack any sense of self preservation. You don’t have to overcome your fear, but you don’t need to be down here alone and afraid. Jean-Paul stay with him while I run and get a few things.”

Bobcat headed up the stairs, and came back a few minutes later with some blankets, a pair of noise canceling headphone, a camping lantern big enough to light up the entire room, and El Topo’s stuffed goat.

After they had gotten El Topo settled in, Le Chevre turned to Bobcat.

“Maybe you are not as bad as I first thought.” He told her.

“I guess I could say the same for you.”

Crowley woke up to a message from Data on his communicator.

**“You’re all over the news, dumbass.”**

He sat up and grabbed his laptop from the bedside table, opening the first news site he came across. Sure enough, he saw the headline, “Millionaire killed my mysterious man.” Along with a grainy security image clearing displaying his face. The Head Faculty would not like this.

He messaged Data back.

** _“Sorry, wasn’t thinking; any new leads?”_ **

**“Actually, yes. Chrysanthemum happens to be the name used by an ecoterrorist who hasn’t been active in 32 years, around the time Bobcat joined VILE. I have also been using the information we got from Le Chevre’s communicator to try and track her location. I do not think it will be too much longer.”**

** _“Thanks, Heidi; you’re the best.”_ **

**“Whatever just don’t get caught again. The Head Faculty are pissed.”**

Blue Jay had been recovering from her surgery fairly well. She wasn’t able to leave the VILE-run hospital just yet, but she was able to walk around. She did have a few rules to follow, however; no running, no exercise outside of physical therapy, and most certainly no dancing. The last part was the worst in her eyes.

Despite not being allowed to dance, Blue Jay was still allowed her ipod for listening to music. Unfortunately, when a particularly energetic pop song came through her speakers, Blue Jay forgot all about the instructions Dr. Vess had given her and started moving with the rhythm.

It started simple enough at first, just nodding her head to the beat, but eventually Blue Jay was all over the room. At some point, however, she decided to try a move she wasn’t ready for and landed badly on her bad leg.

“Fuck!” She screamed loud enough for the entire floor to hear.

When Dr. Vess walked in, he simply shook his head upon seeing the situation she had gotten herself into. “What did I say about dancing?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dr. Vess belongs to Violetfic  
Next I will be doing a Bits and Pieces about the time Le Chevre learned about El Topo's fear of storms.  
As always, I really appreciate feedback if you liked it.


	12. The ring

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Le Chevre pops the question, it does not go as expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter took so long, I was busy finishing up online classes and have been working a lot more due to the pandemic.  
Trigger warnings for this chapter: Legal drug use

Dash was getting oddly used to having a cast on his arm. His right arm was normally the dominant one, but ever since the incident, he had to get used to using his left one. Of course, he still couldn’t participate in any of his favorite hobbies, such as sewing, knitting, or even drawing. His left arm just didn’t have the coordination necessary for such delicate tasks. For now, he was stuck with reading and watching tv, or trying to play video games one handed with Zack.

Speaking of Zack, even though he was still hesitant to return Dash’s affection, the two still spent a lot of time together, especially when the others were out on capers. Sometimes it would be Ivy who stayed behind, she was nice enough (Dash had already mentally designed a nice suit jacket he was planning on eventually making for her), but he obviously preferred Zack.

They would usually hang out in the living room when the rest of the team was out. Zack would usually be on his Switch, allowing Dash to choose whatever he wanted to watch. Sometimes they would talk, but most of the time they just sat together, Zack playing his Switch with the volume off, and Dash watching whatever he’d chosen from one of their streaming platforms.

On one of these days, when the two of them were silently hanging out, the phone unexpectedly rang. Zack got up to answer it, cautiously checking the caller id to make sure that it was somebody they knew and not VILE attempting to somehow access their hideout. Thankfully, it was just Bobcat.

_“First off, nobodies dead or otherwise harmed, and VILE has yet to locate me.” _She assured him. _“This is actually about Dash. Now, I would have to preform another x-ray first, but I think his cast is just about ready to come off. So, the first chance you get, I would like you to drive him down to my place. I know it’s a long trip, but he doesn’t have the documentation for air travel, and I’m afraid that even if I could bring my equipment to you, I just don’t have the time.”_

“That’s great.” Said Zack. “He’s gonna be so excited to hear that; he wants to draw and sew and stuff but can’t because it’s his right arm is the one in the cast.”

_“Well, he hasn’t used his right arm in over a month, so he won’t be able to use it normally right away.” _She explained. _“It will take a little while for the muscles to recover from all the times they’ve been immobilized, but he can start work on getting it back to normal as soon as the cast comes off. Just make sure to call when you’re on your way so I can be ready.”_

“Thanks, Bobcat; I’ll make sure we do that.” Zack quickly hung up the phone and headed back to where Dash was sitting.

Despite being kind of curious on who would be calling them-especially on the landline-Dash didn’t say anything.

“That was Bobcat.” Zack told him. “She says we can get your cast off as soon as we’re able to drive you down there.”

“’And you’re sure Carmen and the others will be willing to bring me to Colorado, or a least let you drive me yourself? Might I remind you that besides your sister, they don’t exactly like me.”

Zack shrugged. “I don’t think Bobcat would like it too much if we didn’t bring you back to get this done. Carmen says she pulled a gun on the guy they were rescuing and made him strip to check for tracking devices; they’re not gonna mess with her.”

That was true; Bobcat didn’t seem to be the type of person it would be wise to fuck around with. And even if Carmen thought it was a bad idea to bring him all the way to Colorado to get his cast off, Shadow-San seemed to respect Bobcat enough to trust her medical judgement and talk Carmen into bring him down there anyways.

At last El Topo and Le Chevre had some semblance of freedom. No longer were they stuck at the farmhouse all day, as Bobcat had finally gotten them new identities. For the time being, El Topo was now Vicente Soldado, Amelia Church’s son who had been put up for adoption as a baby but had finally tracked his birth mother down (according to Bobcat, despite being infertile, she had been a bit promiscuous when she was younger, so this was totally believable). Le Chevre was now Mathis Blanc, Vicente’s boyfriend who he had met at university. Bobcat had also made El Topo cut and dye his hair, as she thought his current style would attract too much attention.

Despite it being a small farm town, Bobcat assured them that they would have no issue being open with their sexuality, as the town was quite liberal. In fact, the farm down the road was a pot farm owned by an elderly lesbian couple who were both very respected members of the community. They would be at the heart of town gossip for a while, but that would mostly be because they were new to town.

The first few times they headed into town Bobcat went with them, just to help them keep their new identities in order, and to watch out for any trouble. She was still concerned that VILE had tracked down her location and would kill them all at any moment. It took a lot of convincing, but eventually they convinced Bobcat to let the two of them go into town without her.

Despite seeming hesitant at first, Bobcat appeared to be happy with the idea of finally having the house to herself again for even a few hours. According to El Topo, she probably planned on getting high while they were gone, as she’d taken the afternoon off of work, and bought a lot more snack foods than she usually did on her weekly grocery trip.

“You got your guns?” Bobcat had asked before they headed out. “Even if you don’t see VILE, bears sometimes show up in town, and I don’t want you getting attacked by one of those, either.”

El Topo gave a nod. “_Si_, we have our weapon and will be okay. It will only be a few hours that we are in town, and we will call you if there are any issues.”

Before allowing El Topo and Le Chevre to head into town on their own, Bobcat had bought them both cellphones and made sure they had both the clinic’s number and her personal number, just in case anything happened.

“Don’t hurry back or anything like that.” Said Bobcat. “I only needed to know that you were protected; I trust you two not to get into any trouble.”

El Topo gave Bobcat a quick wave goodbye, and he and Le Chevre headed out without another word.

Bobcat lived about a mile and a half from town. She would usually drive, or ride one of her horses in if it was a quick trip, but since neither El Topo nor Le Chevre currently had a drivers license or any riding experience, they just walked into town. A mile and a half wasn’t even that long, as back at VILE academy, Coach Brunt would sometimes make them run that far as a warmup.

“If the bakery is open, I would like to go there first, _mi amor_.” Said El Topo.

Bobcat had suggested that they just use normal term of endearment to refer to each other when in town whenever possible, as it cut down on the possibility of them calling each other by their real names by accident. Bobcat had forced them to spend hours memorizing the backstories of their new identities, but she wasn’t taking any chances.

“We have plenty of time to spend in town, _mon chou_.” Le Chevre told him. “We can go to the bakery whenever.”

The bakery was probably El Topo’s favorite spot in the entire town. While he liked a lot of the baked goods the shop had for sale, his favorite had to be the sugar cookies. Not just because of the way they tasted, but because they came in such cute animal shapes. While the owner typically made the cookies based on common farm animals and pets, she had promised him that she would try to make some shaped like moles, as he had said they were his favorite animal.

El Topo didn’t seem to completely hear him, as he was distracted by the bakery coming into his line of sight. “It is open. Maybe they have made the mole cookies?”

Le Chevre sighed. El Topo was too focused on the bakery to really pay attention to his suggestions. His only option was to follow his excited boyfriend towards the bakery.

“Hello, there!” The bakery owner, a woman about ten years older than Bobcat, greeted them. “Oh, Vicente, perfect timing! I just finished my first batch of the mole cookies, and I think they came out pretty well; have a look.”

El Topo was still getting used to responding to his new identity, but as soon as he realized the woman was talking to him, he turned his attention to her.

“_Si_, I am very excited to see them.” He told her. “Where are they?”

She motioned to the glass display case of baked goods to the section of sugar cookies. “Right here, sweetie; I’ll even let you try one on the house since they were your idea in the first place.”

The bakery owner opened the display case and removed one of the mole shaped cookies before handing it to El Topo. Like all the sugar cookies, it was decorated with frosting and little candies for its eyes.

“So, what do you think?” She asked him. “I know it probably doesn’t taste too different from my other cookies, but I’d love to get your opinion on it.”

“It is very cute.” He told her. “I almost do not want to eat it because of how cute it is.”

“Cookies are meant to be eaten, no matter how cute they are. I am fully aware of that when I bake them.” Said the bakery owner. “Don’t worry; I always take pictures of my creations for the bakery’s social media, and I love the way these came out, so there will certainly be more.”

The cookie was a work of art, but nevertheless, El Topo took a bite out of it. The bakery owner would usually use vanilla frosting for the animal cookies, as it was a light color and easy to add food dye to, but for the mole cookies she had gone with chocolate instead. El Topo liked the chocolate better.

“It is very good.” He told her. “I like the chocolate frosting better than the vanilla that you normally use.”

The baker smiled. “That’s wonderful to here; I’m always happy to get a compliment on my baked goods.”

They purchased a few more of the cookies, along with a loaf of fresh bread (Despite living a fairly simple life, Bobcat pulled in a lot of money through her two side businesses and had provided them with a fair amount of spending money) and left.

The next stop was the local coffee shop. Bobcat had asked the to pick her up two pounds of the house blend ground coffee they sold, and recommended they get something to drink while there, as the coffee was amazing. Le Chevre got a black coffee, and El Topo, who wasn’t a big fan of coffee, just ordered a hot chocolate with whipped cream.

After they had finished their drinks, they headed to the gardening store, as El Topo wanted to look into some bulbs for planting a flowerbed in the fall. They didn’t end up having what he was looking for, so they left without buying anything.

They visited a few more places after that. Eventually, El Topo didn’t feel like doing any more shopping, while Le Chevre still had a few places he wanted to go, so they decided to go their separate ways with Le Chevre remaining in town, and El Topo heading back to Bobcat’s farm.

“You know the way back, _mon chou_?” Le Chevre asked him before they split up.

Antonio nodded. “_Si_, will not get lost. See you soon.”

Le Chevre kissed the shorter man on the forehead. “See you soon, _mon amour_.”

As much as Carmen didn’t want Dash leaving the hideout for any reason, she didn’t seem to have a choice. His arm had healed enough for the cast to come off, and since they couldn’t just take him to the hospital to have it removed, as that required a lot of paperwork and could easily call VILE’s attention, they would have to bring him back to Bobcat. And, of course, the fact that he couldn’t get on a plane with proper identification that he did not have, they would have to drive him.

It would be easiest to just have Zack drive him down there, as they got along well, and it would free up the rest of the gang for taking down VILE. Carmen didn’t feel this was a safe option, as if VILE somehow tracked them down, they wouldn’t be able to protect themselves. Zack didn’t have any formal training (just a few fighting lessons from Shadow-San), and Dash, despite having been a VILE operative for years, wasn’t exactly physically strong.

The safest option would be for the whole team to go. That way they wouldn’t have to worry about anyone getting attacked by VILE, either on the road or alone at home. Not to mention, it gave Carmen a chance to see El Topo and Le Chevre again.

Carmen headed into the living room where everyone was sitting. Shadow-San was reading a book, Ivy and Dash were watching tv, and Zack was playing his Switch. They didn’t really pay attention when she walked in.

“Guys, listen up.” She ordered. “We need to bring Dash to Bobcat to get his cast off, that’s not something we can avoid. Since it would be too dangerous for Zack to bring Dash on his own, in case VILE attacked them, we’ll all be going. Bobcat says we can do it anytime so long as we call ahead, so we’ll leave tomorrow, make a few stops along the way, and be there on Tuesday.”

“Alright!” Zack shouted excitedly. “Road trip!”

Dash wasn’t exactly happy with the idea of taking another 17-hour car trip with team red, especially considering this time it would be a round trip and he would be awake the whole time. But he desperately wanted to get his cast off, so this would be a sacrifice he’d be willing to make.

Data had always been a smart and persistent woman but tracking down Bobcat was really starting to piss her off. Every time she got a lead it either went nowhere or led her further down a rabbit hole that she just couldn’t seem to navigate. One thing was for certain; Bobcat-or whoever she truly was-was much more complex of a person than they ever could’ve imagined.

Just as she was booting up her computer for another day of possibly pointless work, her communicator rang. When she saw it was Crowley, she let out a curse. Normally, she would be happy to get a call from him, but currently she had very little new information on Bobcat, and the stuff she had wasn’t exactly useful.

“The head faculty are getting impatient with us.” He told her. “Are ye any closer?”

“_Da_, I am getting closer every day; I still need more time.” Replied Data. “I have found more information, but it is not very useful in ultimately tracking Bobcat down.”

“No matter how useless, I needty know it.” Said Crowley. “It would at least give us something tae tell, the head faculty and get them off our arse.”

“This isn’t extremely helpful to tracking her down right now, but I may have found out Bobcat’s true identity.” She told him. “So far, we have been able to track her down to when she was an ecoterrorist named chrysanthemum, but I think I’ve gone back even further than that. Quick question, have you ever heard of a show from the eighties called _The Wild Wild Elwood’s?”_

“No, can’t say I ever have.”

“That would make sense; it only had one season, came out before you were born, and is overall extremely obscure.” Data explained. “It was about the Elwood family-Carl, Shannon, and their daughter Kathrine, AKA Katie-going around to different parts of the world and interacting with various wild animals.

“A little backstory about the Elwood’s; the parents were both trained veterinarians with a concentration in exotic animal care and were training their daughter to be the same. Before they got their own show, they traveled around a lot, wrote several books, and guest stared on various other programs. _The Wild Wild Elwood’s _was supposed to be a huge phenomenon, networks were hyping this shit for months before it came out, and they had at least five seasons planned for the show, however, they only got as far as one season aired, and a second season that was completed but never aired.

“Right after the second season was completed, they began filming on the third season. It is important to note that the show didn’t have a huge production team; it was usually just the family themselves doing all filming. While they were traveling to a filming location, their plane crashed in the American wilderness. According to autopsy, the pilot and both of the parents were killed on impact, the body of the daughter was never found.

“Because of her advanced survival knowledge, the search for her went on for months, much longer than it would for the average teenager. They found some of her clothes at one point, and had a few eyewitness accounts but beyond that, nothing; they never found a body. The three most popular theories are that she died and was eaten by wild animals, sustained a head injury in the plane crash and is still alive somewhere with no memories of who she is, or the one I find to be most believable; that she was unhappy with her old life and saw this as an opportunity to start fresh.

“The ecoterrorist Chrysanthemum became active about a year after this event occurred, so it was likely she spent that time changing her identity. The skillset Katie was known to have matches up quite well with the skills Bobcat had when she initially showed up at VILE. While it was clear she had some medical knowledge, she could never produce any sort of veterinary certification, so it was assumed because of her age, that while she had completed a good amount of veterinary school, she never formally graduated.”

Crowley was impressed with the amount of information that Data had managed to dig up, but it still wasn’t what he needed. “So, ye haven’t been able tae track down her location yet?”

“Well, no, but considering the head faculty thought she was dead for seven years, they don’t really have an excuse to be too disappointed in what I have found so far.” She argued. “Like I said, I need more time. I’m close, but I’m just not there yet.”

When El Topo arrived back and the farmhouse, he found Bobcat lying on the couch, surrounded by snack wrappers, and presumably stoned out of her mind. She had apparently fallen asleep at some point and was snoring loudly.

As he picked up the discarded snack wrappers and headed into the kitchen to dispose of them, he spotted a tray of brownies on the counter. The brownies had been haphazardly sliced and a few of them had already been consumed. Figuring Bobcat had made the brownies to eat while stoned and simply forgot about them, he figured it wouldn’t hurt if he helped himself to a few.

The brownies had an odd taste to them, which left El Topo wondering if Bobcat had been a little high while making them. Her cooking was usually pretty good, and he was worried that she had used the oven while stoned. Despite the taste, El Topo still ate a few of the brownies before heading up to his room, not wanting to wake Bobcat.

About an hour after eating the brownies, he started feeling strange. He grew agitated and couldn’t figure out why. His mind felt oddly clouded and he felt a disconnect from his body. When he suddenly found himself running to the bathroom to vomit was when he started to get extremely worried.

At VILE academy, students were taught the effects they would feel from being poisoned, and many of them matched up with the symptoms El Topo was experiencing. He began wondering when he could have been poisoned. The only thing he could remember eating that hadn’t been prepared by Bobcat was the cookie he’d gotten from the bakery, but that couldn’t be it. The bakery owner had no way of knowing about his past and wouldn’t go around poisoning random people, right? In a panic he quickly phoned Le Chevre.

“Jean-Paul, you need to come home right now!” He shouted into the phone, not giving the other man time to speak.

_“What happened, _mon chou_?” _Knowing the current situation with VILE hunting Bobcat, Le Chevre’s mind instantly went to the worst-case scenario. _“Are you injured? Has VILE attacked?”_

“I have been poisoned! I do not know when or where, but I am showing many of the symptoms. Please come home right now.”

_“I am on my way; stay where you are.”_

Le Chevre ditched the two shopping bags-their contents were nowhere near as important as El Topo, or even the smaller bag he had tucked away in his pocket-he was holding and practically sprinted back to the farmhouse. When he opened the door, he was instantly greeted by El Topo pulling him into a tight hug.

“I am scared, _mi amor_.” The smaller man muttered into his partner’s chest. “I do not want to die.”

“Has Bobcat looked at you?” He asked. “She is the closest thing to a doctor we have right now.”

El Topo shook his head, motioning to the sleeping woman. “I did not think to wake her up.”

Le Chevre immediately ran over to the woman and shook her awake.

“Bobcat, it is an emergency!” He shouted. “Antonio may have been poisoned!”

Bobcat blinked, not completely aware of what was going on thanks to the THC in her system. “Okay, super weird question, but did he eat any of those brownies I left out?”

El Topo gave a nod. “_Si_, but I do not know how that would be important.”

Bobcat suddenly burst out laughing. “Those were _pot_ brownies. You weren’t poisoned; you’re just high. How many did you eat?”

“Only two or three.” He told her. “They tasted odd, but I thought that you made them while you were high.”

“Sweetheart, I’ve been smoking since I was sixteen and have a pretty high tolerance, so these brownies have a _lot_ of weed, and I’m assuming you’ve never had any before. Don’t worry; you’ll be fine in four to six hours.”

“Why are you so calm when you take marijuana?” El Topo asked her. “I am so panicked right now.”

Bobcat shrugged. “Well, honey, marijuana effects everyone differently. Not to mention, you’ve consumed a fairly high dose for your first time; I don’t fuck around with my brownies. We’ll keep an eye on you for now, but you should be fine.”

“Why would you leave drugged brownies out without so much as a note?” Demanded Le Chevre.

“I thought guys would be back later and that I would have more time to put everything away.” She told him. “Hey, just be glad I misplaced those Shrooms I had. If I had decided to make edibles with those instead, this could’ve ended much worse.”

Carmen had made a call to Bobcat a day before they would be arriving, but unfortunately, she had been high when she answered the phone and had completely forgotten that she was having visitors until they showed up at her door. Thankfully she wasn’t busy at the time, and they arrived right after her clinic had closed, meaning she could bring Dash into her clinic to deal with his arm without having any of her clients become suspicious (her staff knew what kind of things she did after hours already).

After a quick x-ray, Bobcat determined that Dash’s arm had mostly healed. Next, she pulled out a small saw and quickly sliced through the cast. Dash’s arm still felt a bit stiff from the cast, but at least now he could move it.

“Its gonna take a little while before your arm is completely back to normal.” She told him. “Just make sure you keep using it so that the muscles can properly heal.”

“And when will that be?” He asked her. “I just got the cast cut off; I need to know when my arm will be back to normal.”

Bobcat shrugged. “It varies from person to person, sweetheart, just be glad you don’t have any nerve damage. Now, lets get the others and grab some food; I’m starving.”

On most days Bobcat would never suggest a large group that included a few former VILE operatives head into town for dinner, but tonight she was feeling pretty calm. Besides, VILE would never attack them when there were so many witnesses around, so they were probably safer at a restaurant than they were at her farmhouse.

As they walked into the restaurant, Le Chevre fiddled with the ring box in his pocket. He had purchased it in town earlier that day, feeling as if now was finally the perfect time to pop the question. As they were seated, he waited back for a moment, giving their waitress the ring along with a large tip and asking her to put it in El Topo’s milkshake. His plan was for El Topo to finish the milkshake near the end of the meal and find the ring at the bottom. Unfortunately, things didn’t go the way he thought they would.

“Hey, Antonio, I bet I can finish my milkshake before you do.” Said Zack.

“You are on, _amigo_.” Replied El Topo, grabbing his own cup, and removing the straw.

Before Le Chevre could stop him, he gulped down the entire shake before his expression changed to one of confusion.

“What’s the matter, sweetheart?” Asked Bobcat. “Brain freeze?”

He shook his head. “I think I swallowed something hard.”

“It was probably just an unblended strawberry.” Said Zack. “Sometimes they don’t blend up right.”

Ivy gave her brother a light slap. “You idiot, he’s drinking a _chocolate _milkshake.”

Bobcat suddenly noticed the look on Le Chevre’s face. It was clear that he had something to do with this and just realized that he fucked up.

“Maybe we should just have them box up our meals and head back to my clinic.” She suggested. “We don’t know what Antonio swallowed, and I should probably x-ray him to make sure it wasn’t something harmful.”

“That would be a good idea.” Agreed Le Chevre.

For the past seven years, Bobcat had stayed under VILE’s radar. They didn’t know she was even alive, much less that she was living as a veterinarian in a small town in Colorado. But with Data’s investigation complete, that was about to change.

Data assumed that someone who was on the run from VILE would hide out in the wilderness somewhere, not out in the open where VILE could see her, but Bobcat was always good at going undercover. From what they could tell, she had pulled this type of stunt before, and was a bit of an expert at that point.

The farmhouse was lovely, it reminded her of the home she shared with Sargent Schlachten. She did not want to see it destroyed. Before she gave Crowley the address, she made him promise one thing; that he would not cause any unnecessary harm to the place or the animals living there.

“I was never plannin’ tae destroy the place.” He told her. “No fun burnin’ the bitch while she sleeps; I might lose my life in this battle, so I’m gonna make it worth it.”

Crowley had chosen an old abandoned factory that VILE had once made use of as the location for what he described as the fight of his life. He knew Bobcat had people she cared about living with her, and she would certainly be willing to take him on solo if it meant none of them got hurt.

After locating the house, he slipped a note into her mailbox detailing his offer for a solo fight and giving her a number to call along with a deadline of three days. He would stay in town for the time being and would make sure that she took the letter seriously.

The x-raying was awkward to say the least. After printing it out and discovering the ring that El Topo had swallowed, she pulled Le Chevre into the other room, alternating between congratulating him on the proposal (she was certain El Topo would say yes), and lecturing him on how dangerous his actions could’ve been. Eventually, she handed him the x-ray to propose with in lieu of the swallowed ring.

“Did Bobcat find out what I swallowed?” El Topo asked him as he reentered the room.

“Well, about that…” Said Le Chevre, getting down on one knee and holding the x-ray out as if it was a ring. “I love you, _mon chou_, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. The object you swallowed was an engagement ring; I had the waitress put it in your milkshake, I did not think you would swallow it. This is never how I imagined it, but Antonio, will you marry me?”

El Topo’s eyes lit up almost instantly. “_Si_, of course I will. I love you so Jean-Paul!”

Le Chevre wrapped his arms around the shorter man. “You have made me the happiest man in the world, _mon amour_!”

“Just one thing, how are we going to get the ring out of me?” Asked El Topo.

Bobcat, who had been clearly eavesdropping behind the door, entered the room. “The ring should pass naturally in a few days. One of my patients, a Labrador, ate a similar ring and passed it without issue, so you should be fine.”

It wasn’t the most romantic proposal, but it was certainly an interesting one.

After Carmen and the rest of her gang had left for a motel for the night (minus Shadow-San, who had decided to stay the night with Bobcat), and El Topo and Le Chevre had gone to bed, Bobcat had finally gotten around to feeding her animals. Just as she was about to head in for the night, she noticed something sticking out of her mailbox. This was strange, as she clearly remembered getting the mail earlier that day.

The envelope lacked any sort of stamp, or even an address, it was simply labeled with _Bobcat_. After checking the envelope for any sort of traps that might go off when she opened it, she carefully tore through the envelope, unfolded the paper inside, and began to read the messy handwriting.

_Bobcat,_

_It is time you pay for your crimes. I am not planning on hurting anyone besides you, but if you choose to ignore me, that is exactly what will happen. Call me within the next three days for further instructions, before I am forced to kill someone you care about._

_I will be awaiting your call,_

_Crowley._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will hopefully be up in a week or so. If you like my writing, I would love for you to leave a review.


	13. Inside the Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bobcat can't run from her past any longer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings for this chapter: Violence, mentions of drug use, mentions of suicide, mentions of abuse.

Bobcat always wondered when she started drinking so much coffee. It had to have been sometime after she left VILE. When she was still part of the organization, she had access to many strong medicines-a lot of which the outside world knew nothing about-that would keep her awake just as well as-if not better than-caffeine. It was always much easier to just grab some experimental pill than it was to brew a cup of coffee, even if it had a lot more risks.

When she had discovered the letter from Crowley in her mailbox, she and Shadow-San had just been talking, but planning on heading to bed soon. Because of their relationship (Shadow-San had always understood that Bobcat would never be exclusive to just him and was fine with that), whenever Bobcat was on the island between assignments or because they needed more people in the infirmary, she would usually stay in his living quarters. Because of this, it made sense that he would stay in her home while in town, instead of in a motel like everyone else.

After finding the letter, Bobcat simply walked inside and put on a pot of coffee.

“Bobcat, what are you doing?” Shadow-San had asked her. “It is late at night, are you really planning on drinking coffee at this hour?”

“We have a small problem.” She told him, holding up the letter. “It seems Crowley has finally discovered where I live. Thankfully, he decided to leave me a letter telling me to call him rather than torching the place while we slept.”

“Since he feels you are responsible for the death of Fallen Angel, he probably feels that killing you in your sleep isn’t good enough revenge.” Said Shadow-San. “I am assuming he wants to fight you one-on-one so that he can finally face the anger he’s been holding inside, and make sure you are dead.”

Bobcat looked at the ground. “It’s kind of _is_ my fault that Devon died on the assignment, though. I should have been strong enough to protect her, but I wasn’t. I was strong enough to save myself, but why not her?”

“It was never your fault.” He assured her. “You could not have known those operatives were going to attack you, and you could only fight so many at once. You told Fallen Angel to run, but she insisted on staying and fighting, you did all that you could.”

He could never tell Bobcat the truth about what had gone down those seven years ago. With the exception of Bobcat herself, the four operatives sent on the assignment were all thought to be traitors that were planning on escaping VILE the first chance they got. For three of the operatives, this proved to be true, but not for Fallen Angel.

The goal of the assignment was not what the operatives had been told it was, but instead to get rid of the traitors. All four of the other operatives were bigger than Bobcat, and it was correctly assumed that they would underestimate her years of experience. Everything had gone correctly, except for Fallen Angel. She wasn’t a traitor and idolized Bobcat, so she tried to fight off the traitors and lost her life instead. If Bobcat knew that she was supposed to kill those operatives, especially Fallen Angel, it would crush her.

Bobcat shook her head. “It’s not like I blame myself for every death that happened while I was in VILE, so I need you to stop pretending the ones that actually were my fault, weren’t. You were like this about Devon’s death, and you were like this about Connor’s death; knock it off.”

“Do not bring up Connor’s death.” He warned. “It happened a long time ago, and you can never seem to move past the fact that it wasn’t your fault.”

“We both know that his death wasn’t an accident, Suhara. Sure, he was an idiot sometimes, but he knew the consequences of playing Russian Rolette. Its no coincidence that he picked _that _day in particular to challenge his enemy to a game and subsequently blew his brains out.”

Blackjack, AKA Connor, had been one of their roommates and friend’s way back when they were students. He had also been one of Bobcat’s lovers. Around twelve years ago, he had proposed to her. Bobcat had refused, not only on the basis that it was forbidden, but because she simply didn’t see him that way. Sure, she liked spending time with him and having sex with him; she just didn’t love him.

While Blackjack seemed initially distraught after the rejection, he appeared to have accepted it by the time he was sent out on his next assignment. His goal was to poison the man he was supposed to be meeting with, but instead he decided to challenge him to a game of Russian Rolette. Blackjack lost; both the game and his life.

“For the last time, it was not your fault.” He attempted to reassure her. “I never said it was an accident. Like the rest of us, Connor’s life before VILE was not a good one. He needed help that VILE would never provide him with. We both know that something like that was going to eventually happen, even if it hadn’t been that particular even that set it off.”

Shadow-San was right, Bobcat knew that, even if she did not want to admit it.

The coffee maker suddenly beeped, signifying that the coffee was ready. Bobcat got up, grabbed two mugs from the cabinet above the sink, and poured two cups of coffee. She handed one to Shadow-San, before pulling out a flask and pouring some of the liquid into the coffee. Shadow-San gave her a look but didn’t comment.

“What?” She demanded. “With all the shit that’s going on in my life right now, I just need a fucking drink. Ever since you became a member of the Head Faculty, you’ve been a judgmental asshole, and its really starting to piss me off.”

Without another word, Shadow-San took the flask from Bobcat, before pouring some of the alcohol into his own cup.

Bobcat smiled. “Now, _there’s _the Suhara I know and love. Remember when we used to have those wild parties on the beach when we were younger?”

He nodded. “Those were simpler times. VILE is a much different place than it was when we were students, even before the island was destroyed. The operatives are a bit calmer than we were. Maybe because the instructors are not so rough, they do not feel the need to get drunk and party the way we did.”

The only instructor that remained from what many called ‘the old era of VILE,’ the instructors that were there before the 90’s, was Professor Maelstrom. While the current instructors weren’t exactly kind to their students, the old instructors could be classified as downright cruel.

Wolfe wasn’t too bad; he expected a lot out of his students, but it was obvious he actually cared about them. Fraulein Fuchs, the former self defense teacher, liked to work her students to their physical limit, the point where they could no longer move, and had a habit of _motivating_ them with a riding crop. Dr. Icarus was quite fond of studying how the brain reacted to certain stimuli, specifically different types of pain, and would freely experiment on students and operatives that had _misbehaved_, or that he simply didn’t like. As for Baron Gladio, he was known for taking the teaching of class and culture to the extreme, making students go days without food or sleep if they could not adhere to his impossibly high standards.

While Bobcat was aware of a bullying problem within VILE academy in the years leading up to her supposed death, this sort of thing was never a problem when she was a student. Sure, there would be occasional disagreements, but never to the level where it became a problem. The students found a common enemy in their instructors and all arguments could be solved in the sparing ring.

While the new style of teaching had its own issues, everyone agreed it was probably for the best. The old era favored the brutal and the survivors. In Bobcat and Shadow-San’s year alone, three students had died before graduation; one from drowning during a practically rigorous water training exercise, one from septic shock resulting from an injury that was never properly taken care of, and one of an apparent pre-existing condition, although not everyone agreed with Dr. Icarus on that one.

The new era favored the crafty and sneaky. Sure, most of the operatives were physically strong, and a lot of them were survivors in their own right, they had a different way of thinking than the old era operatives. While old era operatives were taught to kill all possible witnesses, new era operatives were trained to avoid creating witnesses altogether. Technology was advancing, times were changing, and VILE had to change with them.

“You know, if had the chance to do it all over again, I probably would still join VILE.” She told him. “I know how cruel the organization was, and how it effected all of us, but it really was my only chance to get ahead in life. I know Jackal was able to leave the crime life behind and make an honest living for himself, but I’m just not like that.”

Shadow-San nodded in agreement. “VILE attracts a certain type of person. There are traits that the Head Faculty look for in new recruits; just because somebody is a criminal does not mean they display those traits.”

They both knew that those traits had little to do with one’s criminal abilities. VILE preyed on the broken, people who had already suffered in their life and craved a certain stability that VILE could offer. Nobody joined VILE because they wanted to; they joined it because they had already been through hell and couldn’t see how things could get worse.

Bobcat had asked Shadow-San not to tell the others about the letter. Carmen’s gang would be staying in town for a few days more, but she didn’t want to worry anyone. This was her fight and her fight alone; nobody else needed to get involved.

When El Topo told her he and Le Chevre would be going into town, Bobcat was a little worried, but didn’t say anything. She knew that if she objected, they would become suspicious, so for now, she would have to pretend that everything was normal. Besides, Crowley said she had three days to respond to his letter, and while he was quite violent, she had always known him to be a man of his words. She was planning on calling him later that day, anyways, so she assumed he’d lay low for the time being.

_“Don’t do this.” _Data told him from his communicator. _“Its stupid and will get you caught; VILE is already on your ass for being all over the news, so I suggest you lay low for now.”_

“Not happenin’.” Crowley told her. “Bobcat needty know I’m serious if I wan’t her tae call me.”

_“You have killed almost as many people as she has; she knows you are serious.” _Said the German woman. _“You know what? I don’t care anymore, just do what you want. I’m going to tell the Head Faculty about this conversation in case they try to pin any of this shit on me.”_

“I don’t remember askin’ fer yer opinion in the first place.” Replied Crowley when he suddenly spotted El Topo from his hiding place. “Target spotted, gotta go.”

Crowley quickly put his communicator away in his pocket before pulling out a knife.

Using the stealth that had come from years of training and practice, he snuck up behind El Topo, before slashing the shorter man’s shoulder-an injury he knew would not leave more than a scar in the way of permanent injury-tucking the bloody knife into his jacket, and disappearing into a crowd of people before anyone knew what had happened.

According to Bobcat, late summer was tourist season in her little town. She couldn’t see any reason why people would want to visit a sleepy, little farm town in the middle of assfuck nowhere, but people-mostly from the city-did, and she warned El Topo and Le Chevre that the town would probably be crawling with idiots.

When they got into town, they did notice an increase in people, but considering they had both grown up in big cities, it wasn’t anything near the crowds they were used to. Having not lived anywhere near a farm growing up, they could both understand why people would want to visit a little better than Bobcat would. It was the novelty of the place; the same reason someone like Bobcat might decide to visit the city for a change of scenery.

The two men did what they usually did on trips into town, visiting shops and picking up a few items that Bobcat had requested. The shops were busier than usual, but they didn’t care; it was probably good for the town to have more foot traffic.

As Le Chevre walked through the town with his arm around El Topo, actually enjoying himself for once, the shorter man suddenly stopped, letting out a cry of pain and clutching his shoulder. When he removed his hand, it came back red and sticky with blood.

Le Chevre let out a shocked gasp. “Antonio, what happened?”

“I do not know.” He replied. “I think someone may have stabbed me; I did not see who they are or where they have gone.”

“We need to get you to a hospital!” The taller man was already pulling out his cellphone. “I will call you an ambulance!”

El Topo shook his head. “No, if we go to a hospital, VILE will surely track us down. Call Bobcat: she has medical training.”

Bobcat was a veterinarian, not a doctor, and Le Chevre was reluctant to call her, even if she had worked in the infirmary from time to time while at VILE. But he knew that VILE was still trying to track them down, and while their new identities were enough for the small town of Allenspark, they lacked the medical records needed to visit a hospital without causing suspicion.

El Topo, feeling a bit lightheaded, decided to sit down. The spot he chose was out of the way enough so that he wouldn’t draw any suspicion. Le Chevre tore the sleeve from his tshirt, using the fabric as a makeshift bandage as he applied pressure to the wound. Using his free hand, he pulled out his phone and called up Bobcat.

_“Hello, Jean-Paul.” _Answered the woman, sounding a bit more cheery than usual._ “You never call me just to say hello, so I’m assuming there’s an issue in town. Are the bears back? If so, just keep people away from them as best you can-especially the idiot tourists who might try to take pictures with them-and I’ll be there in a second to deal with it.”_

“No, this is much worse.” Replied Le Chevre, the panic evident in his voice. “Somebody has assaulted Antonio. I did not see who it was, but they stabbed him in the shoulder with a knife; he is bleeding fairly bad.”

Bobcat’s tone quickly changed. _“I’m coming to get you, just apply pressure to the wound until I get there and try not to draw too much attention to yourselves. Everything is going to be okay; I promise. Where are you located right now?”_

“We are near the hardware store. Please hurry.”

_“Alright, both of you stay calm; I will be there soon.” _

After the called ended, Le Chevre put away his phone, and focused his attention back on El Topo. The shorter man was trying his best to stay calm, not wanting to worry his partner or escalate the situation further.

Bobcat arrived in a matter of minutes-Le Chevre assumed she had probably ignored the speed limit for most of the journey-with Shadow-San in the passenger’s seat. While Le Chevre knew Carmen’s gang was staying in town for a bit longer, and he was aware of the relationship between the two former operatives, he wasn’t sure why she would feel the need to bring him along.

As Bobcat got out of the van, Shadow-San shifted into the driver’s seat.

“Get your asses in here so I can take a look at the injury without bringing attention to what we’re doing.” She commanded, opening the back of the van. “Suhara, I’m gonna need you to drive slowly and carefully, as I’m certain I will need to give him stiches.”

“You cannot be serious.” Said Le Chevre. “Are you really planning on stitching him up in the back of a moving vehicle? Would it not be better to wait until we are back at your clinic?”

“He looks to be bleeding pretty bad, and I can’t as well stich him up in the open.” Replied Bobcat. “I had to do this sort of thing a lot when I worked for VILE; he’ll be okay. Besides, I can’t bring him into my clinic when its open. My employees know what I do, but my clients will be suspicious.”

El Topo looked at his partner. “I trust her, _mi amor_. If Bobcat has worked in the VILE infirmary, she knows about combat medicine, even if her specialty is animals. If she thinks I need stiches on the ride back, I trust her decision.”

Le Chevre sighed. “Fine, but if you cause any harm to him, I will make you regret it.”

“I’m not afraid of you, sweetheart.”

El Topo thankfully hadn’t lost enough blood to need a transfusion, and Bobcat had determined that the damage would most likely be in no way permanent, safe for a scar. He was still a bit woozy from the blood loss, however, so Bobcat made him lay down on the couch (she didn’t want to risk him getting dizzy and falling on the stairs) and set him up with an IV to replenish fluids he lost from the bleeding. He had fallen asleep soon after.

Le Chevre shot Bobcat a glare, keeping his voice low so that he wouldn’t wake his sleeping boyfriend. “You said this town was safe, you said you would protect us.”

“Honey, I said I would protect you from _VILE_.” She told him. “With the tourists comes violence; shit like this happens all the time when they’re up here. You two worked for VILE, you should be strong enough to protect yourselves against civilians.”

That was a lie. The last time there had been any incidents like this involving a tourist was five years ago, and that had been a simple hit and run case. Bobcat knew this was Crowley’s doing. She had to call him and get this thing sorted before anyone else got hurt.

“I have some work to do.” She told Shadow-San and Le Chevre. “I will be in my study. Do _not _bother me unless it is a matter of life or death.”

As soon as she got to her study, Bobcat closed and locked the door behind her. Pulling out an old burner phone she was saving for an occasion like this, she dialed the number Crowley had left for her to call. He answered on the second ring.

_“I knew ye’d be callin’ me soon, Bobcat.” _He chuckled.

“You didn’t have to stab Antonio.” She told him. “I would’ve call you anyways.”

_“Aye, but I needty make sure I got my point across.” _Replied Crowley.

“Why are you doing this, Alistair? I know that somewhere inside you is good. I could see it then, and I know its still there now. VILE is a terrible place. It takes broken, vulnerable people who are in need of some sort of direction in their life and just sculpts them into violent, killing machines. It did that to me, and its doing it to you. I can help you; you just have to leave it behind.”

_“Ye can’t trick me!” _He growled. _“Yer always actin’ so nice, pretendin’ ye were not the killin’ type. I’m sick of yer shit. Five days from now, noon. That’s when we fight. I’ll text ye the addresses. Remember, if ye ain’t there, I’ll bring the fookin’ fight to ye. Come alone.”_

He hung up without another word. Bobcat knew she would have to go and fight him, but she couldn’t tell anyone else what was going on. Crowley had promised to leave the others alone so long as she did what he said. VILE didn’t appear to know where her house was, as they hadn’t sent The Cleaners after her yet (She had her doubts Crowley would have given them a location, as he knew it would mean giving up the revenge fight he so desperately craved).

If the others, El Topo in particular, were to find out about her plans to take on Crowley solo, they would want to fight alongside her. With the exception of Shadow-San, nobody else stood so much as a chance against Crowley, even if they outnumbered him. Crowley would have no qualms about reducing them t a pile of ash and bone, and Bobcat was determined to stop that from happening.

She didn’t know how she would do it, but Bobcat was going to find a way to fight Crowley without letting anyone know. By the time they found out, it would be too late to stop her. Bobcat spent the next few hours in her study formulating her plan.

Bobcat had Carmen’s gang over for dinner once again. While her kitchen table really wasn’t big enough to fit so many people, and not all the chairs were actually chairs, she liked the company. Besides, she needed them here to put the first stage of her plan into action.

“Listen up.” She told them as they sat around the table. “I know what happened today was a lot for everybody to process, as it was a violent event that came out of nowhere, but I think it would be a good idea for us to do something to take our minds off it. After all, Carmen, Ivy, Zack, Dash, and Suhara are all still here visiting, and it would be no fun for them to just sit around for the next week here.

“I found a country fair happening about an hour from here that’s happening for the next few weeks. Unfortunately, I can’t get time off for five days, so we’ll have to wait until then to go. It will be fun; most of you have probably never been to one of these before, being from the city and all.”

Dash wrinkled his nose at the idea. “I will _not _be spending the day surrounded by hicks and disgusting farm animals. I’m already stuck in this one-horse town for the next week, so why do you think I would want to go to some stupid country fair?”

Zack gave the taller man a gentle pat on the shoulder. “Come on, Dash; this place is so rural that VILE isn’t likely to be looking for you here so it’s a great chance to spend some time out and about.” He turned to Bobcat. “Sorry he’s being like this; the trip has been stressing him out a bit since he just got used to living with us. If he isn’t up to going in five days, I’ll stay back at the motel with him; I don’t mind.”

Despite Zack’s attempts to try and convince him to leave the motel, even for just a little while, Dash refused to go anywhere. If he had a choice, he wouldn’t be eating dinner at Bobcat’s that night, either. Zack chalked this all up to anxiety; Dash was extremely worried about VILE finding out he was still alive, and it had quite the effect on his life. They couldn’t exactly take him to see a therapist, either.

Dash shot Zack a glare but didn’t say anything, quickly returning to picking at a slice of pizza.

“That sounds like a great idea.” Said El Topo. “We had traveling fairs back in my home country, but I have never been an American fair before.”

“You’re gonna love it, Antonio; country fairs are the best.” She told him. “My family traveled a lot when I was small, and if we had time, they would let me visit all sorts of fairs are festivals. Country fairs have always been my favorite. They’ve got rides, food, games, animal shows, everything you could want.”

And with that, Bobcat had laid the groundwork for her plan. Phase two would go into play soon enough. The country fair wasn’t that weekend; it wouldn’t occur for a couple of weeks, but with everyone driving down to the fairgrounds, she would have more than enough time to go off to fight Crowley before anyone got involved or tried to stop her.

The day before the country fair trip was supposed to take place, Bobcat challenged Le Chevre to a friendly sparring match.

“Its important for you to keep up with your training in order to protect yourself and your partner.” She had told him. “Especially now that you’re n longer with VILE and aren’t going on assignments to keep you sharp.”

While Bobcat had years of experience on him, Le Chevre doubted she would try to hurt him in such a match. She really did seem to care about him and El Topo, so it wasn’t surprising that she would want for him to become stronger by practicing with her.

Bobcat had originally been a lot faster, certainly faster than Le Chevre was currently, but she had slowed down a bit with age and the lack of good practice over the years. She knew there was no way she could win a fight against Crowley, but this sparring match wasn’t about that; it was about giving herself an excuse.

Despite her age, Le Chevre’s lack of experience meant Bobcat could have taken him down with ease, even if he was bigger and slightly faster than she was. But that wasn’t her goal. She put up enough resistance for him to not be suspicious, allowing him a few moments when he thought he would lose, before giving him the upper hand. Le Chevre took this opportunity to knock her off her feet and into a nearby tree.

The impact wasn’t too painful. Bobcat knew she would be sore in the morning, but that was more because she was old and out of practice. Nevertheless, she stood up with a groan and staggered over to where Le Chevre stood, putting on a good show like she had done so many times before.

“This was kind of a bad idea.” She told him. “Sometimes I just forget that I’m older now, and that I’m so out of practice. Nice job, though.”

“Bobcat, are you injured?” Asked El Topo, concerned. “You hit that tree hard; I could hear the impact from over here.”

“Its nothing I’m not used to, honey.” She assured him. “I should heal in a few days, although I’m not sure if I will be able to go to the country fair with you tomorrow since I’m certain I’ll be too sore.”

“Maybe we should wait until next weekend to go.” He replied. “It was your idea, after all, and I would not want for you to miss it.”

“Since the others are only here this weekend, I think it would be best if you guys went without me.” She told him. “The three of us could go again next weekend as well.”

That answer seemed to satisfy El Topo.

Frankly, Bobcat wasn’t even sure if she would _have _a next weekend. Either way, the fight with Crowley would not go well. She was 23 years older than him and very much out of practice, while Crowley had nearly ten years of continuous VILE experience. At least she only had to pretend everything was okay for just a little longer.

It was sunny out when Bobcat woke up for what would likely be the last day of her life. After saying goodbye to the others around ten thirty, she wrote a note detailing where to find her vehicle and body, knowing they wouldn’t find it until after it was far too late.

Bobcat took one last walk around her property, marveling at the life she had created for herself over the last seven years. She had spent so much time running from her past, and now it had finally caught up to her. This time would be the one where she didn’t rise again under a new identity.

The drive to the old factory was under an hour, but it felt like the longest of Bobcat’s life. When she entered the decrepit building, stained with graffiti and falling apart, she found Crowley already waiting for her.

“You know we don’t have to do this, Alistair.” She couldn’t even look him in the eye. “Devon’s death was a tragedy, but we don’t have to lose our lives over something that happened seven years ago.”

“Ye didn’t think ye could run from yer past forever?” He smirked. “I lost my angel because of ye, and ye don’t just get tae go on livin’ yer life.”

When they pulled up to the empty fairground, the group was confused. There was no sign that the country fair Bobcat had told them about would be happening anytime soon.

“Maybe she gave us the wrong location or mixed up the dates.” Suggested El Topo. “I will call her.”

He attempted to call Bobcat twice, but she didn’t pick up either time. “That is strange, she always answers her phone. I am worried something may have happened to here.”

“She is probably high again.” Said Le Chevre. “We should not worry.”

“Maybe, but we should still return home and make sure everything is alright.”

There was no sign of Bobcat or any sort of intruder that may have taken her, only a neatly folded note on the kitchen table.

_I went to fight Crowley, I had to keep him from hurting you guys. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before, and that I knowingly sent you to a closed fairground, but I didn’t want anyone getting involved. By the time you read this letter, it will be too late; I will most likely be dead. I have included the location where you will be able to locate my body and my van._

_Please inform my employees of my death, they know what to do in such an event. I apologize in advance for any grief my departure may cause. Stay strong for me._

_The best of luck to all of you,_

_Bobcat_

“We have to go now!” Said El Topo upon reading the letter. “We may still be able to save Bobcat!”

Shadow-San didn’t say anything, but from the look in his eyes, Carmen could tell that he knew it was already far too late.

By the time they arrived, the factory was already engulfed in flames. Bobcat’s van was parked outside so they knew they were at the right place. Before anyone could stop him, El Topo run into the burning building. He came out about thirty second later, carrying a badly injured, but somehow still alive Bobcat in his arms.

The woman was covered in burns, clutching at her bleeding abdomen. It was very clear she didn’t have much time left, even if El Topo didn’t want to believe it.

“We have to get her to a hospital!” He shouted. “Call an ambulance!”

Bobcat pressed her hand to his chest, leaving behind a bloody handprint on his shirt. “Its too late, sweetheart. Even if there was a doctor right here, my injuries are far too grave for anything to be done. I did what I had to do. Crowley, if he’s even still alive, won’t hurt you even again.”

“Bobcat, you cannot leave us!” He cried. “You are a fighter! You can survive this!”

She gave a weak smile. “Goodbye, Antonio, I will always love you.”

Bobcat’s eyes slid closed, and she went limp in his arms.

Pain. Cruel, unforgiving pain. It was the only thing Crowley felt. Over half his body was covered in burns, and his left leg had been completely shattered, but he was alive. Bobcat was no more. He had won.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, if you liked my writing, feel free to leave a comment. Next I will be working on a chapter of Bits and Pieces that delves a little deeper into Shadow-San, Bobcat, and Roundabout's time at VILE academy.  
I do not own the images I used, they are from google.


	14. What a Shame

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone deals with the situation that has occurred, El Topo learns that drinking is a terrible way to try and numb the pain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter took so long, I've been really busy with work. I hope its worth the wait.  
Trigger warnings for this chapter: Violence, drinking, vomiting, grave robbing.

El Topo was in shock. Earlier in the day he had been talking with Bobcat and helping her with farm work like he normally did. The day didn’t seem out of the ordinary in any way, other than the promised country fair. He was expecting Bobcat to be waiting for him when he arrived back at her place, but that would never happen again. Bobcat had just died in his arms.

El Topo knew Bobcat had committed her crimes in the past-she had been a VILE operative, after all-but she didn’t deserve to die, at least not like this. Before Crowley had hunted her down and slaughtered her, she had been trying to be a better person and start over again. She had only agreed to fight Crowley since she knew she had no other choice, not if she wanted to protect the people she cared about.

As everyone stood in shock, it was Shadow-San who broke the silence.

“I will drive Bobcat’s body and her van back to the farm.” He told them. “Zackary will transport everyone else back so none of you have to be close to the body for a long period of time. Bobcat would not want it to be like that.”

He headed over to take Bobcat’s body from El Topo, but El Topo simply tightened his grip.

“No, _I _will be the one to carry Bobcat’s body back home.” He told the older man. “She was a wonderful person and she deserves more than having her body transported in the back of her dirty van.”

“Antonio, you have done so much for Bobcat, more than you know.” Said Shadow-San. “Bobcat only knew you for a short time, and despite that, she cared for you deeply. You may not know this, but Bobcat always wanted to have children, but VILE and her own infertility got in the way. Although you were an adult when you met her, she treated you like a son. You gave Bobcat a chance to feel like a mother for once in her life; she would not want you to bear the burden of carrying her body all the way back to Colorado.”

El Topo hadn’t exactly left his parents because of the best circumstances. They were decent enough caretakers for most of his life, but when he came out to them as gay at the age of sixteen, they had kicked him out. Bobcat had no issue with his sexuality and had even helped him rescue his boyfriend from VILE. It was clear that she did care about him, even if he wasn’t biologically her child and she had only known him for a short time.

Without another word, El Topo handed Bobcat’s body over to Shadow-San before slowly sauntering over to where Le Chevre stood.

“_Mon amour_, are you alright?” Asked the taller man, although he already knew the answer to that question.

“No.”

Shadow-San knew Bobcat was up to something from the start. Even before she got hooked on painkillers, she had always had a high pain tolerance. She would often be the last one standing in Fraulein Fuchs’s classes, after everyone else’s bodies had given in, and at one point she had casually dropped her detached pinky finger on Dr. Vess’s desk, telling him she needed it reattached (Shadow-San wasn’t there for that, but he heard about it), so there was no way Le Chevre’s attack would’ve left her damaged enough to skip the country fair.

Despite this, he still had to pretend to have no idea what was going on. If the circumstances were different, he would have helped Bobcat take down Crowley in a heartbeat, whether she wanted him there or not. But this had never been about Bobcat proving something; it was about protecting El Topo and the others.

As he lifted Bobcat’s body into the back on the van, it was still warm. If it wasn’t for the blood and burns, the lack of rising and falling of her chest, she would still seem alive. Bobcat had her share of brutal assignments, coming back bloody and bruised, and sometimes even unconscious. She had always turned out just fine every time before-she was a fighter, after all-but this was the last fight she would ever lose.

If Shadow-San were to ever see Crowley again, he would not hesitate to kill the man. Of course, he wouldn’t spend his life trying to hunt the operative down-he had more important things to do-but if their paths were ever to meet again, carnage was inevitable.

When Crowley was brought to him, Dr. Vess had almost assumed the man was already dead. A large percentage of his body was covered in serious burns, his leg was shattered, a few of his ribs were cracked, and most of his clothing that wasn’t destroyed by the flames was soak in blood. But somehow, he still had a pulse. His gasps were raspy and shallow, but he was still breathing.

The average person would have already died. If not from their injuries, from the excruciating pain. But not Crowley. He had always been a stubborn man, never a huge fan of being told what to do, even by the head faculty. It was as if death had come for him, but he had decided he didn’t want to die yet and put up a fight.

Dr. Vess knew Crowley’s outlook wasn’t good, the operatives injuries were numerous and critical and there was a good chance all the hard work put into saving him would go to waste, but he was important to VILE and they insisted he do everything he could.

The numerous surgeries they preformed on Crowley took almost twenty-four hours, and at the end of it all, his survival was far from a sure thing. Crowley had been placed in a medical coma for his body to heal over the next couple of months. His outlook wasn’t great, but Crowley was a fighter. It was possible for him to not only survive, but to go back to his life with only scars as a reminder.

Data only knew that Crowley had survived, but barely. She didn’t know what condition he was in; she didn’t know if he would live through his injuries, she didn’t even know if their assignment had been a success. The fire had destroyed the cameras she was using to observe the fight, and The Cleaners did not find Bobcat’s body among the wreckage.

Given the time and the heat of the blaze, it would have been impossible for Bobcat’s body to have been completely destroyed. Even if her flesh had burned away, her bones would still remain. Being that the van she had arrived in had disappeared from the site, there were two possibilities. Either her body and van were picked up by somebody else, or she somehow managed to escape with her life. Knowing VILE, they would not be satisfied with claims of Bobcat’s death without some sort of proof, which Data could not currently provide.

Not knowing what her next course of action should be, Data decided to give Dr. Vess a call to check in on Crowley’s condition.

“Dr. Vesalius, I am calling for an update on Alistair’s condition.” She told him. “It has been over a day, so I figure he has either been stabilized or has died.”

The doctor sounded tired and a bit annoyed. But to be fair, that was how he normally sounded. _“By some miracle, he hasn’t died yet. Frankly, I have no idea how the fuck that idiot is still alive. We spent almost twenty-four hours working on him, and while he currently seems fairly stable, that could change at any point. Personally, I did not want to waste my time with someone who was likely a lost cause, but the Head Faculty see Crowley as too valuable to die.”_

Data had never really liked Dr. Vess. He came to VILE ten years ago, the same time she and her classmates did. Despite being hired as a doctor and not an operative, the Head Faculty wanted him to be able to defend himself, so he trained with her class sometimes.

Data always thought of Dr. Vess as an asshole. He was an excellent surgeon, she would give him that, but he never actually cared about his patients. He did his job because he was paid to, but beyond that, he didn’t seem to give a shit if his patients actually made it or not. The rest of the infirmary staff weren’t like this, even the hardened doctors that had been with VILE much longer than he had saw their patients as more than broken objects they were to fix. Even the dentist, Dr. Llywelyn, who many found to be a tad creepy, was known to show kindness to his patients.

“Thank you for the update, but I have one more favor to ask of you.” Said Data. “You see, while I am certain Crowley has killed Bobcat, the Head Faculty still want proof. Her body was taken by a group of rogue operatives; however, I am aware of the location she was most likely buried.

“In his current condition, Crowley cannot go and dig her up himself, and even if I was willing to leave my home, I doubt I am strong enough to do it myself. Undertaker and Bloatfly are still under your command, correct?”

He sighed. _“Yes, they are. You might not know this, the sisters can be a pain to deal with, and they-or at least undertaker did-actually did like Bobcat, so they might not be willing to do it, or at least one will object to it. Dr. Llywelyn has always had much better luck keeping the peace between them, so I suggest you call him if you have a problem with either sister..”_

Despite being sisters, Undertaker and Bloatfly and an extremely volatile relationship and often made attempts on each others lives. Undertaker, the older on the two sisters, specialized in body retrieval, while Bloatfly, the younger of the sisters, preformed the autopsy's. If they didn't hate each other, they could have gotten much farther in life.

While both sister could have made great doctors, and were sent to work in the infirmary because of their medical knowledge despite being trained as operatives, Dr. Vess had always felt them too unpredictable to be around live patients. He always feared the would snap at the wrong moment and kill some poor operative.

“Thank you.” Replied Data. “Please contact me if there are any changes in Alistair’s condition.”

_“I do not have time for that. The Head Faculty will likely call you if he dies, and once he wakes from his coma, you can call him yourself.”_

With a sigh, Data ended the call. She really did not like Dr. Vess.

By the time they were all back at the farmhouse, El Topo was understandably an emotional wreck. Bobcat’s death had taken its toll on everyone, but he had been closest to her.

Shadow-San had made the decision to not let anyone see Bobcat’s body until it was time to give her a proper burial the next day. Her body was to be stored in the giant freezer in the clinic’s basement meant for storing the bodies of dead animals until they could be cremated or taken by the owners to be buried. Over the years she had many patients that died on the operating table or had to be put out of their misery, and there was an odd peace of placing her body within such a resting place.

Bobcat had prepared extensively for the event of her death, so when her employees were informed, they did not worry, and simply did what they were taught to do in such an event. They did not grieve, not because they weren’t saddened by Bobcat’s death-most of them had worked for her since she first came to the town and they would miss their boss greatly-but because there was so much to be done, and they really didn’t have time to be sad.

Bobcat had always known VILE would one day track her down. She never gave her employees the specifics of the organization, only that her criminal past would one day catch up to her and that she often used the codename Bobcat. In order to keep the clinic running in the even of her passing, she had planed everything out in advance. Who would be in charge, how her _side businesses _would operate from now on, even the cause of death that would be given to any of the towns residents if they asked.

Everyone was still in a state of shock about Bobcat’s death. Considering she had faked her death at least twice before-likely even more times than that-it honestly felt like some sort of trick. If he had not watched Bobcat die, and heard her speak her last words, he would have assumed she had escaped, leaving someone else’s body in her place.

In her younger years, that was probably how things would have gone down. Bobcat would have put up a good fight against Crowley before leaving a corpse for The Cleaners to find and resurfacing under a new identity. But with age, Bobcat had become weaker, and Crowley stronger. She could not win against him, and she more than likely knew this when she faced off with him.

Like the rest of the VILE operatives, Bobcat was no saint. She had murdered before she joined, murdered during her time as an operative, and likely murdered after her supposed death. But much like the operatives she once fought alongside, she was still human. Her actions were never inherently good or evil, but it was clear there was always a caring person buried inside somewhere.

Undertaker and Bloat fly had always argued about if Bobcat had actually died or not. The woman was an enigma, and considering that she had faked her death before and no body had been brought back for autopsy, Bloatfly firmly believed that Bobcat was still alive out there. Undertaker, on the other hand, believed that the body had to be Bobcat's. This obviously spurred a violent fight between the two sisters, and they were told never to discuss it again.

Upon hearing Bobcat had died for real, the two sisters again had differing opinions. This time Undertaker had believed she was alive, citing that she had already faked her death once from VILE, so she could certainly do it again. Bloatfly was certain that Bobcat was gone for good, seeing as Crowley was quite thorough. The sisters had actually liked Bobcat, and treated her like an equal, something they weren't usually known for doing.

The only other person the pair actually got along with was Dr. Llywelyn. The dentist was creepy and honestly kind of an asshole, but they could never find it in themselves to hate him. While Dr. Vess treated them as mere tools, Dr. Llywelyn always showed them respect. In a way, he kind of reminded them of their father; terrible, but not terrible enough to hate.

When the sisters initially got the message about bringing back proof of Bobcat’s death, they ended up getting in another violent altercation, as while Undertaker was perfectly fine with digging up Bobcat's grave and bringing her body back, Bloatfly saw this as extremely disrespectful and would not allow her sister to have any part in it. They were about to kill each other when Dr. Llywelyn stepped in, threatening to have them both mindwiped if they did not behave.

“Honestly, its hard to believe you two are sisters with the way you're always trying to fucking kill each other.” Said the man. “Bloatfly, I know you liked her, and I did, too, but she was technically a traitor, and you and your sister have to do what you are told. If we had gotten rid of the asshole like we’ve been trying to do for years, you probably could have gotten out of this. I just know he’s gonna blame _me _for your insolence again.”

Undertaker gave a smug smirk, while Bloatfly looked ready to kill her sister. Not that she didn't always look like she wanted to kill her sister.

The sisters and Dr. Llywelyn made it clear from the start that they did not like Dr. Vess and his methods and had conspired to get rid of him from day one. While the three of them could have easily ganged up on him in a fight, violence was too obvious and would get them punished, so they had to come up with methods that were a little more unorthodox.

They had started out by being mean and petty, tossing in the occasional threat, but none of that had actually fazed Dr. Vess. For years, they had been attempting to convince him that he was going crazy, or present him as incompetent by sabotaging his work, but so far, none of their methods had proved successful. Until they could get rid of him, things would never be the way they liked them.

Bobcat’s funeral was a solemn but oddly casual affair. Being that her death was so unexpected, and everyone was either from out of town, or hadn’t been there long enough to own any sort of formal wear, nobody was exactly dressed for a funeral. Dash wore a classy, black sweater that he had bought along simply by coincidence, but everyone else made do with black tshirts. Even Bobcat’s employees attending her funeral were dressed rather casually.

They weren’t burying Bobcat in a cemetery. That option would be costly, and would draw a lot of attention, and it was pretty much agreed upon that it was not what Bobcat would have wanted. Instead she was laid to rest on her own property, buried only in a simple wooden box, and remember by a small, wooden marker.

El Topo had promised that he would get Bobcat a better grave marker than the hastily cobbled together wooden plank they had to use for the time being. Before acquiring said marker, however, he wanted to learn more about Bobcat and who she truly was in order to make it record as complete as possible. He knew VILE-specifically the computer genius Data, whom Le Chevre had questioned about Bobcat earlier-had found out where Bobcat lived, so it was certainly possible that they had figured out her true identity.

“In a way, I am certain Bobcat would prefer this to us celebrating her life in a funeral home or a graveyard.” Said Shadow-San, looking around. “I think she would be laughing if she saw how underprepared we were for such an event.

“I knew Bobcat for a large part of my life, and yet so much of who she was has remained a mystery to me. Maybe she would have preferred it this way, as I am aware that many VILE operatives arrive with dark secret they would like to keep hidden. Perhaps we will one day learn the truth about the woman we knew as Bobcat, perhaps she will always be a mystery to us.

“If I were to say Bobcat was a saint, or even a good person my most people’s standards, I would be lying. Bobcat carried out her orders without regret, she was not against causing the death of people she did not know. She may to have been a good person, but she was always a good friend. Bobcat treated her allies with kindness and respect, even if they did not treat her the same way. Perhaps if her path was different, her life would have gone better, but we will never know.”

“I didn’t know Bobcat as much as I would have liked to.” Admitted Carmen. “While our paths sometimes crossed when I was a young child, and she did tell me a few interesting stories about the time she spent around exotic animals before joining VILE, we didn’t communicate a lot. Like everyone else, I thought she was dead until we met up with her again.

“It was late at night when we rescued Dash, and we had our reasons for not being able to bring him to a hospital, despite him being badly injured. Bobcat welcomed us into her home and fixed Dash up without question, even flying all the way to San Diego to check up on him later when he was sick. While I do believe her actions were questionable at times, I don’t think she was completely a bad person.”

Bobcat’s employees each shared their tales about their time with Bobcat, and how she appeared in town quite mysteriously only to become well liked rather quickly. The rest of Carmen’s gang each said a few words, and even Le Chevre had some nice things to say about the woman.

After everyone else had spoken, Shadow-San turned to El Topo. “Antonio, you were rather close with Bobcat, even if you only knew her a short time. Would you like to say a few words?”

El Topo shook his head, staring at the ground. There was so much he wanted to say about Bobcat, but it was taking all his energy to not break down right then and there. He knew that if he tried talking, he would be sobbing in no time.

Le Chevre gave him an understanding look. “You do not have to speak if you do not want to, _mon chou_. If Bobcat were here, she would have understood.”

El Topo really didn’t want to think about how things would have been if Bobcat hadn’t died the previous day. Bobcat’s location had only been discovered by VILE because of Le Chevre’s communicator. If El Topo hadn’t been so insistent that they find and rescue the other man, maybe Bobcat would still be alive.

Data had always had a strange feeling about Fallen Angel’s last assignment. VILE had sent much more manpower than needed, almost like they expected something to go wrong. But if they had expected the operatives that had attacked of traitorous intent, then why send them out in the first place why they could just be mindwiped or killed? And how did Fallen Angel play into this? Something didn’t add up.

Despite having admin privileges on VILE’s network, Data hadn’t gone searching for answers before. She didn’t know exactly where this type of information would be stored, but she was certainly smart enough to find it. No, the reason she had never gone searching was because she had initially put her trust in VILE. It seemed like a stupid idea now, but she was quite naïve when the incident had occurred and assumed VILE was telling the truth about what happened on that heist. But after everything that had happened, she wasn’t sure they had _ever _told her the truth.

The mission reports were surface information, one hardly needed any account privileges to access them, so of course it made sense when she couldn’t find what she was looking for within them. VILE would never store such confidential information where any operative could find it. Multiple missions had been purposely omitted from this record for security reasons, including a couple Data herself had been involved in.

Data continued to dig deeper, this time into the files of all of the deceased operatives involved in Fallen Angel’s last assignment. There were only a handful of operatives allowed to access this information, including herself. Of course, Data had been the only one given admin access, as part of her job involved keeping VILE’s database in order. But a few other highly trusted operatives had been given access to these file’s for various reasons.

With this new layer of secrecy, she found herself closer and closer to the truth. The three operatives that attacked had been listed as a possible threat to VILE, being that they were looking for their chance to escape the organization, just as Data had suspected. None of them had really known Bobcat before the assignment, so it was likely the whole thing was a set up. If they did not know Bobcat, they would have no idea of how truly strong she was. They were all younger and bigger than she was, so it made sense that they would think they could take her, resulting in Bobcat taking their lives to save their own. But Fallen Angel was closer with Bobcat, she knew how strong the older woman was, and had even tried to protect her. If VILE had suspected Fallen Angel of being a traitor, they would have gotten rid of her in another way.

Fallen Angel’s file didn’t mention her as showing any signs of being a traitor, but Data found another possible reason for VILE wanting her dead. According to the file, Fallen Angel was suspected of knowing of something referred to as _Operation Acetone. _Data had never heard of either of these, or even seen them mentioned. It was clear VILE wanted to keep them a secret.

The files about Operation Acetone were extremely well hidden. Not only were they only available to the Head Faculty, and Data thanks to her admin privileges, but they were deeply buried. Searching the database for either of them came up with nothing, and it took Data hours of poking around to find what she was looking for.

Operation Acetone, while currently defunct, had been going on for a few years they were operatives. The operation pertained to some land owned by a farming community. VILE had wanted the land to use to grow their genetically modified crops in order to make a big profit, and the farmers were unwilling to sell, so they had to find a more unorthodox way to do it. These methods included poisoning the town's water supply and cattle with toxins banned in most developed countries. Children died, lives were ruined, and entire families were displaced for a facility that VILE never ended up using. And the worst part was, they knew these people could not fight back, and they were still doing this type of thing today.

The whole assignment had been a setup from the start. Bobcat was meant to kill every other operative on that assignment. While Bobcat was aware of Operation Acetone, she wasn’t part of it or any similar operations, and didn’t know the true extent of what VILE was doing. The Head Faculty had assumed Fallen Angel would think Bobcat had participated in human experimentation, they did not think she would try to defend the woman. Either way, only Bobcat came back alive and the Head Faculty had gotten the results they wanted.

Fallen Angel’s death had not been Bobcat’s fault. Not only had Crowley been mad at the wrong person for years, he had taken her life incorrectly. As soon as he woke up from his coma, Data was going to tell him everything.

The sisters could tell Dr. Llywelyn was pissed the moment he walked into the living quarters they shared with him. It was pretty clear he had just come from talking with Dr. Vess.

“I just came back from talking with Dr. Vess, and that asshole isn’t too happy with your fighting and refusal to do your job.” He grumbled.

"Its Bloatfly's fault." Said Undertaker. "But what does it even matter? He'll forget about this in no time and get off our asses, he always does."

The dentist shook his head. “I’m afraid he has different plans this time. He shut off the internet to our quarters and will not be turning it back on until you two complete your assignment.”

Bloatfly shrugged. "So, we never use the internet?"

“Well, it affects _me_.” Argued Dr. Llywelyn. “I spend most of my free time on the internet, and without it I don’t have games, reading material, tv shows, or porn.”

"Just read a Playboy, for fuck's sake." Said the youngest sister.

“You read a bloody Playboy!” Shouted the dentist. “You’re completing that assignment one way or another, and I’m going to go with you two to make sure you do it right.”

Undertaker sighed. "I think we're gonna have to do this either way."

"Please, if it will get him to shut that trap of his, I'll do anything." Said Bloatfly.

To say El Topo was a wreck would be an understatement. He was having a hard time with Bobcat’s death and it showed.

After the funeral, while everyone else was talking, he slipped downstairs into the basement. Normally, he liked to be with other people-or at the very least, Le Chevre-when he was upset, but this time he just wanted to be alone. El Topo had always found comfort in being underground, and since he didn’t want to go against Bobcat’s wishes by digging up her property, the basement was the next best thing.

It was quiet down there; he could only hear the occasional footsteps of the people above him. For a while he just sat with his back to a wall and his knees pulled to his chest and sobbed. It was nice to be able to just be alone and let out his emotions.

After a while, El Topo stopped crying. It wasn’t because he felt better-if anything, he felt worse-but more like he had simply run out of tears. With a shaky breath, El Topo stood up and made his way out of the basement bedroom and into Bobcat’s lab. He wasn’t planning on trying weed again, or god forbid, taking any of the pills he’d never heard of, but he assumed she did have some good alcohol stashed away somewhere.

After about fifteen minutes of poking around, he finally located a drawer filled with bottles of various types of alcohol, none of which we completely full. While El Topo had never been properly drunk before, he had partaken in a beer or two after a successful assignment from time to time, and often shared a bottle of wine with Le Chevre when they went out on dates. El Topo was usually more of a social drinker, but this time he only wanted to get drunk so the pain would go away. Despite never partaking in hard liquor before, he decided to start with a half empty bottle of Jack.

It took Le Chevre quite a while to realize El Topo had gone missing. He had just been so distracted with everything that was going on, and everyone chatting in the living room, that he hadn’t noticed that the other man had disappeared. Quietly getting up, he went to go look for him.

Initially he had assumed the shorter man had simply gone upstairs to their bedroom to try and take a short nap after becoming overwhelmed or simply not feeling well, but there were no signs that his boyfriend had been back to their room at any point. Le Chevre then moved on to the next place he thought to check, the basement.

El Topo had always found comfort in being below the surface, and Le Chevre understood this. He also understood that when his boyfriend was in a place where he could not dig a tunnel to hide in until he had calmed down a bit, he would find another place to hide. In this case Bobcat’s basement.

While he expected to find El Topo in a very emotional state, he did not expect to find the shorter man passed out and surrounded by mostly empty liquor bottles. El Topo was never a heavy drinker, and wasn’t one to drink himself into a stupor, so Le Chevre was instantly worried.

“_Mon chou_!” He shouted, shaking the other man. “You cannot sleep on the basement floor. I do not care if you are drunk, you must come upstairs to bed.”

El Topo let out a groan but didn’t open his eyes.

Le Chevre shook him again, growing more concerned. “Antonio, please; I need you to come upstairs. I am not mad at you for getting drunk. If you stay on the ground and do not drink any water, you will feel terrible in the morning; I do not want you to feel sick tomorrow.”

Again, he didn’t respond. Fearing the worst, Le Chevre ran up the stairs as fast as he could, hoping that somebody would be able to help him.

“You must help me!” He shouted. “It is Antonio; he has gotten drunk and I cannot wake him. I fear he may have alcohol poisoning.”

Having been around intoxicated people quite a bit during his younger years as an operative, Shadow-San was the first one down the stairs. Thankfully, El Topo seemed to be breathing fine, and didn’t appear to be in any distress. He flipped the younger man on his side, positioning him so that he would not easily fall out of the position.

“Keep him on his side so he does not choke to death if he is sick.” He told Le Chevre. “Do not leave him alone at any point during the night, and make sure his breathing stays constant. I will stay here again tonight in case anything happens.”

“Will Antonio be okay?” Asked Le Chevre, clearly worried about his boyfriend.

“He will live, but he will not feel well in the morning.” Replied Shadow-San, before turning towards the others. “If you four would like to help, you can get a bottle of water, some ibuprofen, some type of food that is easy to keep down such as toast or crackers, a blanket and a pillow, and bring them back down here. Antonio will need those things when he wakes up.

“I know Bobcat very well, and it is likely she has more than one stash of alcohol hidden in her house. Seeing as I do not want this to become a regular occurrence, I will spend tonight making sure I have gotten every last bottle. Zackary, drive everyone to the motel, and do not go anywhere else tonight. Although I would like to stay here to help deal with the tragedy, we have been away long enough, and will have to return home. Tomorrow evening we will begin the drive back.”

As much as Carmen wanted to stay and help her two friends through the events that had occurred, they needed to get back to stopping VILE as soon as possible.

Dash also seemed relieved about the idea of heading back to the hideout the next day. During their stay in Allenspark, he had been getting progressively more moody due to the stress. Seeing as VILE had been able to track down Bobcat, he was paranoid that they might still be in the area and discover that he was still alive.

While Zack and Ivy were more understanding of Dash’s sudden moodiness, Carmen and Shadow-San were getting a bit annoyed with his behavior. That morning, Carmen had almost lost her temper with Dash, nearly snapping at him before Zack and Ivy managed to deescalate the situation.

It wasn’t long before everyone else had left-Shadow-San to search the house for any of Bobcat’s hidden booze stashes, and everyone else back to their motel-and the two of them were alone. Le Chevre wished he could have brought El Topo up their bedroom where he would be more comfortable, but the other man was simply too heavy to be carried up the stairs.

“You really scared me, _mon amour_.” He said, running his fingers through his partner’s hair. “Never do anything like this again.”

Dr. Llywelyn had not been an athletic man when he was hired by VILE thirty-odd years back. He was not hired for his strength but for his dentistry abilities, his apparent lack of morals, and the fact that he was estranged from all of his family and had few friends. At 5’8” and 120 pounds (Dr. Vess was always badgering him to gain a few pounds, but never forced the dentist to actually do it, as he was only slightly underweight), he was far from intimidating. And now, seeing as he was pushing sixty, he gotten far from stronger.

Seeing as he wanted his internet privilege back, Dr. Llyewlyn went with Undertaker and Bloatfly to make sure they didn't rip out each others throats. The sisters, either intentionally or unintentionally, seemed to be making this as painful as possible for him. This meant that the dentist had to help with excavating Bobcat’s corpse, which involved a lot of digging.

“I’m too old for this shit.” Complained Dr. Llyewlyn. “I haven’t done anything close to this demanding since I was a boy in Wales on my parents farm.”

"Shut your mouth and keep digging." Said Undertaker, in a sort of whisper shout. "I'm thirty eight and I do this every day."

"If they here us in the house, they'll come out here and kill us." Agreed Bloatfly. "There is no way we could take down Shadow-San alone, much less all of them,

“You aren’t going to make me carry her body back with us?” He asked. “I know you two really liked Bobcat, and this seems like it would be scaring even for you, but I am simply too old and too weak to carry her any sort of distance.”

"I'll carry her back." Said Undertaker. "After all, its my job."

Without warning, Bloatfly pulled out a gun. "If either of you even think about taking her body, I will kill you both where you stand! We will bring him back a sample of her hair and some pictures, but that's fucking it, understand?"

Undertaker wanted to argue, but she wasn't about to call her sister's bluff.

“Oh, believe me, I’m with you on that plan.” Replied Dr. Llyewlyn. “I respected Bobcat just as much as you did; I don’t even feel it would be right for me to pull out her teeth to ad to my collection. Of course, Vess isn’t going to be too happy with us.”

Bloatfly shrugged. "He's been mad at us before, he'll get over it."

Dr. Llyewlyn knew he probably wouldn’t be getting his internet privilege back for a while, but there were more pressing matters to worry about at the moment.

El Topo groaned, heaving up another wave of watery sick into the toilet bowl.

“_Dios mio_, I am never drinking again.” He moaned, clutching his stomach.

El Topo had never actually been hungover before, much less due to drinking hard liquor, so he was a bit surprised with how sick he truly felt when he woke up the next morning (although, sleeping on the basement floor probably didn’t do him any favors).

Le Chevre rubbed his boyfriend’s back sympathetically. “You really scared me last night, _mon amour_. Do not worry right now; I have been hungover before and while it is terrible, it goes away sooner than later. Perhaps we should head upstairs to our bedroom where you would be more comfortable.”

Le Chevre had a bit more experience with alcohol than his partner did. He attended quite a few parties in his younger years, parties which always seemed to have alcohol, even when the host and/or attendees were still not legally old enough to drink. It didn’t take him long to figure out how to keep himself from feeling like death the next morning by staying hydrated, and not drinking past his limit.

El Topo, on the other hand, had never been much of a drinker. Before joining VILE, he would occasionally have a beer with his friends or coworkers, but that was it. Even in an organization where more operatives than not world get drink on the regular, he never really joined in. Sure, he’s had a beer here, a glass of wine there, but that was far from unusual for someone of his age.

El Topo shook his head. “No, I think it would be best if I stayed down here for now.”

They were currently situated in the bathroom of the unfurnished basement guest suite, the place where Bobcat had initially kept El Topo after rescuing him from VILE. He was certain that if he tried to make his way all the way up to the second floor, he would either end up vomiting everywhere, or passing out.

Le Chevre handed him a bottle of Gatorade. “You should drink this, Antonio. You will feel better once you have replenished some of the electrolytes your body has lost.”

The shorter man stared at the blue liquid. “Do I have to? I do not think I could keep anything down right now.”

“Just a few small sips.” Said the Frenchman. “Please, for me?”

The words _for me_ worked surprisingly well on El Topo. He never wanted to disappoint Le Chevre and loved him enough to want to do anything he could for him. Slowly, he took a small sip of the drink before handing it back.

“You are not going to leave me down here alone, right?” He asked, resting his head on the other man’s shoulder.

Le Chevre lovingly stroked his boyfriend’s hair. “Of course not, Antonio. I will always be here for you, no matter what.”

Dr. Vess was unsurprisingly angry when they returned without Bobcat’s body.

“You two, you have been doing the same thing for years; at this point you should know what is expected of you.” He scolded. “And Dr. Llyewlyn, I thought you went with them to make sure they didn’t screw this up.”

“Hey, Bloatfly threatened to kill me if I didn’t do what she wanted.” Replied the dentist, always quick to pass the blame on to someone else. “She had a gun; there was nothing Undertaker and I could do.”

"I have collected more than enough evidence to declare her death." Argued Bloatfly. "I can prove that Crowley has killed her without having to desecrate her body further.

Dr. Vess was beginning to get irritated with Bloatfly. “It doesn’t matter if we have enough evidence to declare her dead without it; you were supposed to bring back her body for autopsy. And considering Bobcat has faked her death before, how can we know that this isn’t some sort of elaborate hoax?”

Dr. Vess walked off in a huff, leaving the sisters and Dr. Llyewlyn alone.

"This is all your fault!" Shouted Undertaker. "We could have gotten this done in no time, but you had to be the good guy."

"Hey, fuck you!" Yelled Bloatfly

Dr. Llyewlyn could see that things were starting to get tense, and while he would win the Gruesome Sisters' death pool if this went down right, he felt he should break it up before he got pulled into the mess. “Perhaps you two should calm down before things get out of hand. After all, we are in a hospital filled with doctors, nurses, and operatives, and-“

He was interrupted by a loud thwack, followed by a dull thump. He turned to the source of the sound, only to see that Bloatfly had taken out a large metal pipe she wasn't supposed to have, and smacked Undertaker in the head with it mid argument. The older sister was now unconscious on the floor, bleeding from a large gash on her forehead.

The dentist gasped. “Did you just-“

"Yes, I just did something I have wanted to do for years. I suggest you don’t try to further involve yourself, lest you be next."

Bloat Fly put away her pipe and walked away without another word.

With a sigh, Dr. Llyewlyn pulled out the medical kit he was required to keep on his person (As a dentist, he had the training necessary to preform first aid when needed), and stitched up the gash on the younger operative’s head. He wasn’t exactly happy to be doing this, but it would help take most-if not all-of the blame surrounding the situation off himself.

Roundabout had already thought Bobcat to be dead for years, so when the news came that VILE had finally killed her, he was hardly affected. Of course, it did surprise him the length of time she was able to live undercover without being found out. Bobcat certainly was clever, but he would have assumed her vices would have caused her to slip up much earlier.

As he was reading the message about Bobcat’s death on his communicator, his assistant, Magpie, suddenly walked in.

“Sir, I heard about the death of Bobcat, and I am very sorry for your loss.” She told him. “Although she was a traitor, and even though I know nothing about her, I would still understand if you needed a few days off to grieve.”

Roundabout was certain that news of Bobcat’s death hadn’t gone around to any operatives not directly involved in taking her down, much less to someone like Magpie who graduated long after the woman was presumed dead.

“How do you know this, Margaret?” He demanded. “The death of former operative Bobcat was only confirmed less than a day ago, and the Head Faculty, including myself, have just been informed. No operatives that were not directly involved are supposed to know about this.”

Magpie shrugged. “Kaia told me. She’s been stationed at one of VILE’s hospitals ever since a bunch of the guards felt they weren’t getting paid enough and quit. They’re keeping her there for extra security until they can hire new guards.

“She told me that she was talking with Dr. Llyewlyn yesterday. He was a little drunk and had dried blood on his sleeves, so she asked him if he required assistance. He told her that he was okay, and the blood wasn’t his; he just forgot to wear gloves while stitching up Undertaker. Thinking that a patient had gone nuts again-according to Kaia, this is a pretty common situation, as some operatives become violent when injured or in a medical setting-so she asked him to elaborate. Not being in his best judgement at the time, Dr. Llyewlyn told her a lot more than he probably should have.

“He told her that Bobcat was a former operative who had worked in the infirmary from time to time and was also one of your classmates back when you were a student, and that you two seemed fairly close. He said that although she turned out to be a traitor, she had always been a skilled and highly respected operative, and he regretted having to be involved in her death in any way. If you need a few days off to deal with this, I can certainly handle things on my own for a little.”

Kaia-AKA Nighthawk-was Magpie’s girlfriend. Roundabout had no idea how long the two had been together, only that they had been dating for a while. Romantic relationships were normally frowned upon by the Head Faculty, but Magpie and Nighthawk were mostly ignored, as they were both highly respected-especially for being fairly new to VILE-and always kept their personal life separate from their work lives.

Roundabout did not doubt that Magpie could handle things on her own for a few days. A few weeks back he had to take a day off due to illness, and she had taken care of everything flawlessly while he had been gone. It was clear she had a future in VILE, and corruption in general.

“As far as I am concerned, Bobcat died seven years ago on an assignment gone wrong.” He told her. “I have already grieved for her, and I will not grieve again. Do not bring this matter up again, as it does not concern you.”

Magpie gave a polite nod. “Yes, sir.”

Undertaker awoke with a groan. Noticing she was laying on a cold, tile floor, she sat up and looked around, realizing she was in an empty hallway not far from the morgue. Considering very few people had reason to this visit particular area, it wasn’t surprising that nobody had discovered her down there.

Reaching up and feeling the hastily stitched gash on her forehead, she remembered exactly what had happened. Her sister was going to regret this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dr. Vess belongs to Violetfic.
> 
> Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'll try to have the next one done a little quicker for you guys.


	15. An Operation Truly VILE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crowley learns everything, the truth about Bobcat and how his anger was misplaced for seven long years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter took so long. I was busy with work and it turned out longer than I thought it would.  
Trigger warnings for this chapter: Medical stuff, violence.

Crowley was certain he shouldn’t be alive. Most of his skin was covered in burns, and if The Cleaners hadn’t been sent to deal with the scene at the time they were, he probably would not have survived. With his condition after the fight, he would’ve assumed VILE would have just given him a dose of secobarbital and let nature take its course. But instead they decided to go through all the effort of saving him, even though he could have easily been a lost cause.

He’d awoken in a hospital room hooked up to numerous tubes and machines. His body felt completely numb, likely from whatever painkillers they had doped him up with. For a while he could only stare at the celling, before gathering the strength to press the call button located right next to his arm.

He was expecting just a nurse or something to come, and was a bit surprised that Dr. Vess was the one to walk in.

“You have been in a coma for over a month.” Said the doctor, checking his vitals. “I was certain you would die, but the Head Faculty wanted me to waste my time and effort on a likely lost cause, and yet here you are. Don’t assume that just because you are now awake, you are now also okay to be running around the place. I have enough on my place without you fucking around with your own health and safety.”

“I killed Bobcat?” He asked weakly.

“I will confirm that she is dead just to shut you up, but it isn’t my job to give you the details of your assignment.” Vess told him. “Call Data if you need to know what happened; I know for a fact that she was on that assignment with you, even if she was not physically there. I have other patients to attend to, don’t do anything stupid.”

He walked out of the room without another word, leaving Crowley alone once again.

It took hours before he could muster the strength to grab his communicator, ever though it was just on the bedside table. To his surprise, despite what it had been through, the device seemed to still be perfectly functional, if a little low on charge. Without hesitation, he called up Data.

_“_Guten Morgen_.”_ Yawned the woman, sounding a bit groggy, like she had just woken up. _“Who is this, and why are you calling me from Alistair’s number? You’re giving me false hope here; he’s still in a coma.”_

“Heidi, its me!” He assured her. “I woke up hours ago, but only got the strength tae call ye now.”

_“You’re really awake?”_ She gasped. _“I did not think you would survive, none of us did. How are you feeling, after being in a coma and almost dying?”_

“I’ve certainly had better days.” Replied Crowley. “We fookin’ did it! We fookin’ killed Bobcat! I got vengeance for my angel, after all these fookin’ years.”

Data suddenly grew silent at the mention of the woman.

“Heidi, are ye still there?”

_“We fucked up, Alistair._” She told him. _“We fucked up bad.”_

“What do ye mean, Heidi? We killed the bitch; she’s dead.”

_“I know, that’s what I’m trying to tell you.” _Explained Data. _“Devon was supposed to die on that assignment, so were the other operatives sent. It was a setup to get Bobcat to kill off a group of traitors. They knew she would never harm any other operatives without reason, so they had to put her in a situation where she would have to choose her life over theirs. The traitors would assume they could gang up and take Bobcat down, but she was a lot stronger than they would have guessed.”_

“My angel was no traitor!” Snapped Crowley. “She defended Bobcat until her dyin’ moment; she was completely loyal tae VILE.”

_“Keep your voice down; I don’t need anyone listening in on our conversation. Fallen Angel wasn’t marked as a traitor; she was sent on this assignment because she knew too much. VILE has done some terrible things. Keep your voice down; I don't know who might be listening in at the hospital._

_“Devon somehow learned about an experiment Operation Acetone. The goal of Operation Acetone-although now defunct-was to gain control of farmland for one of Dr. Bellum's genetically modified farms after they wouldn't sell. These people were lower class, and VILE knew they didn't have the resources to fight back. People died because of this._

Crowley had grown up in a working poor home near a factory, so this hit close to home. The factory had caused birth defects and death in many infants, including his baby brother who died shortly after birth due to his malformed lungs. The factory was still there today, and while he knew he couldn't do anything about it, he knew he could stop being part of the problem if he could only leave VILE.

“VILE is still doin’ this shit!” It wasn’t a question; he already knew the answer.

_“Of course, they are.” _She confirmed. _“Operation Acetone ended years ago but these types still just as active as ever. From what I could find, VILE has no issues destroying lives, natural enivironments or communities to gain resources and power. Anyways, back to how this is connected to Devon’s death. The Head Faculty figured that Devon would assume Bobcat was somehow involved in all of this-although, as far as I could tell, she wasn’t even aware of it-she would attempt to kill Bobcat when given the chance. While this didn’t go exactly as planned, the Head Faculty still got the results they wanted. Bottom line: Devon’s death was planed by the Head Faculty, specifically Professor Maelstrom.”_

Professor Maelstrom had always been one of Crowley’s favorite teacher back when he was a student. Professor Maelstrom had been there much longer than any other member of the Head Faculty, and while not the strongest person, he had a certain cold callousness that was unmatched by anyone else in VILE. In a fucked-up way, Crowley admired him for that.

Crowley had always known that VILE was a dark organization, but he could never have guessed how dark it really was. He wasn’t a good person-he accepted this fact-but there were sure as hell places where he drew the line. There was a difference between killing those who could fight back, and killing those who were literally and metaphorically unarmed.

He wasn’t a big fan of how they had tricked him for all these years, either. Bobcat was far from an innocent person, but Fallen Angel’s death wasn’t her fault. And yet, he allowed himself to believe the lies of VILE all this time. He wondered what else they hadn’t been telling him. The last ten years of his life felt like a complete lie.

“Heidi, if ye had access to these documents beforehand, then why didn’t ye look into this shit before?” Asked Crowley. “Why did the Head Faculty leave this information available tae ye in the first place? They knew ye liked Devon and wouldn’t be tae happy if ye found out the truth.”

_“I was naïve, I put all of my trust in VILE.” _She admitted. _“I always thought that they cared about me and would never lie to me. It has taken so long for me to admit to myself I was wrong, and the Head Faculty knew how blind my trust was. I was used, we all were, Alistair. But I’ve given too much of myself to VILE, and I don’t think I can leave it behind. I’m so stupid, I should have known better. This is all my fault.”_

“Yer not stupid.” He assured her. “We all put our blind trust in VILE. We all lacked somethin’ in our lives, somethin’ VILE promised us. We were all on the run from somethin’, it made us vulnerable and easy tae trick. We may to be saints, but were sure as fook ain’t the bad guys.”

Data seemed it understand his sediment. _“We can’t change the past, but we can change the future. Our friends are only so loyal to VILE because they don’t know the truth. The other operatives, even the ones who are colder and more jaded than we are, wouldn’t like to hear that those who were likely once just like them are dying like this because of VILE. I am willing to bet that VILE has even harmed a few of their own operatives in this way, causing them to stray towards the path of evil. But we can tell them, we can betray VILE and bring it to its knees. I can’t physically leave VILE just yet, but I can provide you assistance as a double agent. Rest up for now, Alistair; there isn’t much you can do in your current state.”_

“Ye got it, Heidi. I don’t know where Neal is, but Henrik and Sven are still livin’ at my place, and should be easy tae convince. I’ll get outta here as soon as I can.”

For once in his life, Crowley actually felt he was doing the right thing.

About a month had passed since Bobcat’s death, and El Topo was coping a lot better than he had been before. He had a difficult time at first, but as he started to move into a routine, her death was becoming easier to accept.

Le Chevre had taken over the farm chores at first, despite having no idea what he was doing. He, of course, hated every second of it, but he wasn’t about to neglect the animals simply because he disliked taking care of them. As time passed, El Topo slowly began taking back responsibility for the animals, and it really seemed to be helping him move forward after Bobcat’s death.

Despite getting back to his normal life to a degree, El Topo seemed very reluctant to go back into town. Le Chevre, who had been doing all the shopping himself since the incident, wasn’t completely sure why, but he did have two possible theories.

The first was that the shorter man was still afraid of VILE lurking within the small town, just waiting for them to slip up. Crowley had promised that he wouldn’t tell VILE of where Bobcat was living, providing she fought him, but he was still a VILE operative-and known to be a tad psychotic-and could have easily lied. Data, on the other hand, was loyal to a fault. She wasn’t known to ask a lot of questions, and even if she had once looked up to Bobcat, her loyalty was still with VILE.

His other theory was that El Topo simply wasn’t ready to deal with everyone offering their condolences. Everyone knew Bobcat was dead, of a brain aneurysm they were told. It was a sudden and surprising death that nobody could have predicted, making it a good coverup for her real cause of death. The story was that Bobcat had fallen off her horse and bumped her head but didn’t feel the need to go to the doctor. She had gone to bed with a bad headache and passed away from the bleeding in her brain sometime during the night.

Considering that the backstory El Topo was given for his new identity when he arrived in the town was that he was Bobcat’s long-lost son that she had put up for adoption shortly after birth, it would be expected that everyone would feel the need to over their condolences. Le Chevre figured El Topo wasn’t ready to deal with the memories this would bring back.

Le Chevre understood that his fiancé would need time to grieve and adjust. Despite not knowing Bobcat for a very long time, El Topo had grown quite close to the woman, and hadn’t been expecting to lose her so fast. No matter what, Le Chevre would support his partner.

Lonestar had only been cleared to be sent out on assignments again for a few weeks when he was suddenly taken off the roster again. This time, however, it wasn’t because of something he did while out on assignment, but because of the brain damage he had suffered before even coming to VILE.

Ever since he passed out on the helicopter during his first ever assignment, both Dr. Vess and Professor Maelstrom had taken an interest in his brain and the way it functioned. While there hadn’t been much talk of any actual surgery yet, he had gone through quite a few different brain scans of various types.

Lonestar hated going to the hospital, especially this particular VILE run one. He had spent plenty of time in a hospital after initially coming out of his coma and being in a medical facility brought back some fairly painful memories. Of course, that hospital had been normal enough-far too white, and always radiating the overpowering stench of disinfectant-but it was nothing like the VILE hospital where all his more recent procedures had taken place.

The VILE hospital had an unsettling feel to it, even if the inside looked normal enough. Guards patrolled the halls at all times, and every so often they would have to go into lockdown for reasons he was never informed of. His unease was always made worse by the fact that not only was he brought to the hospital alone, but he rarely saw any other operatives the whole time he was there.

As he stepped off the helicopter and towards the building, Lonestar quickly became tense. There had been talks of surgery, and while he knew this visit wouldn’t be the one where they decided to operate, the day he would be under the knife was drawing closer and closer. He knew the surgery would help him-correcting some issues with language and executive function, among other thing-but he wanted desperately for the idea of any operation to go away.

To his relief, he at least wasn’t being escorted around the hospital by one of the faceless, nameless guards, but by his old classmate, Nighthawk. Nighthawk was acting as a temporary guard (but still receiving her significantly higher operative salary) until VILE could hire more guards. Being that she was only one of two operatives sent to fill the need for security, she was technically doing the work of five.

Lonestar always wondered why he was assigned a guard when he went in for testing. He had visited the hospital for other reasons-such as visiting his injured friends, and getting his teeth cleaned by Dr. Llywelyn-and hadn’t had a guard any of those times. And according to his friends, none of them had ever needed a guard while visiting the hospital for any reason. It was strange, but he chalked it up to Dr. Vess not wanting him to get lost.

The helicopter landing pad was located on the roof, so they would be taking the elevator down into the hospital. Nighthawk scanned her access card and pushed a few buttons on the keypad. Visitors to the hospital, when unaccompanied, would be given a limited access pass that would only bring them to the floor they were supposed to be going to, and either the roof or the main floor, depending on how they had entered the building. The guards and staff were given all-access, or semi all-access passes, depending on their position.

"I don't like it here." He told her. "Can you please tell Dr. Vess to let me go home?"

"I am just following orders." Replied Nighthawk. "Ask for something like that again, and I will have another guard escort you."

Lonestar went silent. Despite the fact that he was taller and stronger than most of the guards, he was still afraid of them. Maybe it was the way they dressed, or maybe it was the crackle rods they carried.

The elevator finally stopped, and the doors opened. Nighthawk led him down a hallway and to his usual examination room.

“I will be leaving to patrol the hallways.” She told him. “I will be back soon to escort you to the MRI room.”

Lonestar didn’t want her to leave but knew there wasn’t much he could do.

Being that his arm had finally healed, and they were back in San Diego, Dash was excited to get back to some of the hobbies he had while still with VILE. It had taken about a month for his arm to fully return to normal, and gain back all the muscle and coordination it had lost from lack of use, but now he finally felt confident in being able to work on a few projects.

Dash had lost countless designs when he left VILE, leave his sketchbook and multiple works in progress behind. If he had known he was going to be rescued that day, he would have brought his sketchbook with him so at least he wouldn’t lose _everything._

During his time working for Countess Cleo, he barely had any time for himself. It seemed that as soon as he had completed one of her tasks, she would have another waiting for him. Any outfit design or sewing he did would be for the Countess, and she was very specific with what she wanted. it always seemed to suck the creativity right out of him. The only time he could ever find to knit was when he was traveling and there wasn’t anything else for him to do.

Now that he was free of VILE, and had essentially become part of Carmen’s gang, he had nothing but free time. This had gotten quite boring when he hadn’t been able to use his right arm, as there hadn’t been much he could do besides watch TV or read. Now that his arm was fully healed, he could finally get back to doing the things he enjoyed.

Carmen and her gang had amassed quite the fortune from stealing from VILE, and while they donated the lion’s share to charity, they kept enough to live comfortably and Carmen honestly didn’t care if Dash had spent a few grand on clothes, makeup, and various items for his hobbies. Dash was actually surprised that VILE had so much money, and a little annoyed that Countess Cleo had only payed him the salary of a starting operative (he had discovered that most of his graduating class was now making more than him) despite his workload. Sure, she paid for all his clothing, makeup, and travel, but that was beside the point.

Dash had only bought a few things at first, a set of knitting needles, a few skeins of yarn (natural wool, of course, as he had a bit of an allergy to acrylic materials), a sketch book, a few sketching pencils, and a set of colored pencil, but as time went on, his stash grew. He now had a large stash of both yarn and fabric, multiple sets of knitting needles and crocheting hooks, an easel, a large set of acrylic paints, and even a sewing machine. Ivy had built him a set of cabinets to keep all his supplies in, along was a table for his sewing machine.

While Dash wasn’t particularly fond of Carmen or Shadow-San (and neither of them seemed to really like him either, he did get along with Zack and Ivy fairly well. They had both been kind to him, despite him being a former VILE operative, and he was appreciative of that, and wanted to repay their kindness. Now that he had the use of his dominant hand back, he could do just that.

Dr. Vess had known from the first brain scan that Lonestar was the perfect test subject for continuing the research of his predecessor. His brain damage was quite similar to that of the original test subjects as far as they could tell (his predecessor hadn't kept the best records), and the traumatic injury did not occur until he was twenty-two, and his brain was almost fully developed. He was also strong and with the exception of his brain injury, in perfect health.

The research itself wasn't really helpful to VILE in any way, it was more of a pet project for the previous surgeon. He was highly interested in brains and how they worked, but saw no merit in mind control. He shelved the project at one point due to the death of his test subject, and after not being able to find another, went back to testing on animals, as they were easier to acquire than human subjects anyways, and easier to work with. While Dr. Vess didn't see mach merit in the project, Coach Brunt had asked him to do it for her as a favor. Lonestar was one of her favorite operatives, and she wanted nothing more than for him to succeed.

Roundabout stared at the old framed photo of his graduating class, there really weren’t that many of the left. Including himself, there were four of them still working for VILE, and counting Shadow-San, there were only five survivors of the class of 88’.

Roundabout didn’t remember the names behind all the faces (he had fully forgotten the three students that had died before graduation), nor did he remember how all of them had died. A large number of the deaths were combat-related; however, many had been caused by less exciting means. Car accidents, heart attacks, cancer, the sort of deaths you would expect to happen to at least some of a group of forty over 32 years, regardless of circumstances.

VILE operatives died all the time, but life went on. He was never a combat operative, but had he been, his chances of surviving this long would be slim to none. In his earlier days, he was looked down upon for not being a fighter, and most people thought he wouldn’t be in the organization for the long run. But as the years went on, VILE began to put less emphasis on brute strength and began to favor more intelligent operatives like himself.

His attention shifted to his assistant, Magpie, who seemed too engrossed in her work to notice him looking at her. Much like himself, she was exceptionally smart, but lacking in physical strength. Sure, she was fast and agile, but in a combat situation, she would be far from useful. Roundabout knew she would be more suited towards a career path closer to her own, somewhere her intelligence and deceptiveness would be appreciated. Nowadays, she was exactly what VILE wanted, but thirty years ago, they wouldn’t have so much as glanced at her potential.

“Margaret?”

“Huh?” The woman glanced up when she heard her name. “Is there something you need, sir?”

“Margaret, have you ever wondered why I chose you to be my assistant?” He asked her.

Magpie shrugged. “I dunno, sir, I always thought you saw a bit of yourself in me, or something like that.”

“Perhaps, but not exactly. I chose you because you are different than the average operative. You aren’t physically strong, and yet you are more valuable than some operatives twice your size. What you lack in muscle, you certainly make up for in cunning.

“When I first joined VILE, brawn was favored over brain. People like us rarely rose up within the ranks and were often seen as cowards. But the times are changing, and another era is coming to an end. The intelligent will rise, and the brutal will fall from power. From this point onwards, we will be the ones running the show.”

Magpie liked the idea of actually having some power for once. She had spent her entire life playing second fiddle to someone else, but this would be no more. Serving under Roundabout was her chance to finally get somewhere in life. After all, nobody ever got to the top by sitting quietly and playing by the rules.

She nodded. “Yes, I have only been with VILE for two years, and even I can see the change right in front of me. This era, it will be our era.”

Dash hadn’t left his room much in the last few days, and Zack was starting to get worried. At first, he hadn’t paid much mind, as the other man was still eating, didn’t seem sick or depressed, and appeared to be busying himself with projects. But as the days went on, he began to grow concerned.

Despite the fact they could here Dash’s sewing machine running fairly regularly, Dash had been reluctant to let anyone in his room, even Zack. They respected his privacy and wouldn’t barge in without permission, but he usually had no issue with Zack coming in his room. Carmen and Shadow-San weren’t too worried, as there were security cameras outside Dash’s door and window, and there weren’t any strange devices that Player could find in the vicinity, so Dash likely wasn’t doing anything with VILE.

After nearly a week of Dash’s odd behavior, Zack started to get worried. He was certain that Dash wasn’t trying to contact VILE, but none of the former VILE operatives seemed to be the most mentally stable people, so he worried this might be some sort of unhealthy coping mechanism.

“Dash?” He called knocking at the door. “You’ve been acting really weird lately, and I’m starting to get worried. Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” He replied. “I’m just busy, okay? Please leave me alone and let me work.”

This made Zack even more suspicious, so without another thought, he opened the door and barged in. He found Dash crocheting a large blanket, and not actually doing anything worrying like he had assumed.

“Dammit, Zack!” Snapped Dash. “That was supposed to a surprise.”

“You’re making something for me?”

Dash sighed. “Yes. You and your sister did not have to be kind to me, and yet you both still treated me well. I wanted to thank you two by surprising you with some of the things I made, but you sort of ruined the surprise.”

Zack gave a sheepish grin. “Sorry; guess I shouldn’t be so quick to assume that something’s wrong. I do appreciate you making something for me, though. So, when’s it gonna be done?”

Dash sighed. “Sooner if you leave me alone and let me work.”

“Oh right, sorry Dash, I’ll let you have your space.” Said Zack leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

Dash was a little annoyed by the way Zack had just barged in like that, but it did make him happy knowing that someone cared enough about him to worry when he was acting strange. Countess Cleo only cared about his problems when the affected her, and yet Zack cared enough to become concerned when he was acting odd. It made him certain that his choice to stay with Carmen’s gang was in fact the correct one.

Despite it only having been a couple weeks since he had woken up from his coma, Crowley was feeling like he might be able to escape the hospital soon enough. Despite having been quite weak after initially waking up, he’d already healed fairly well. Being that VILE had wanted him back in commission as soon as possible, Dr. Vess had done everything possible to speed the healing process along. Being that looking like he did before wasn’t considered necessary, Crowley wasn’t given any cosmetic surgery to reduce the scaring from the burns. The bones in his leg had also been surgically grafted back together, as opposed to healing slowly and naturally.

As soon as he was starting to feel better, could stand being without the painkillers, and was able to move around on his own, Crowley began to plan his escape. Of course, he never led on that he was feeling better, pretending that the pain was still there and pocketing the pills they gave him for it, and acting like walking even a short distance was a struggle for him. If anyone felt he might be recovered enough to become a threat, he would be monitored 24/7. Even if VILE still assumed he was loyal, he was still known for his explosive temper.

It wasn’t long before he found his window of escape. Because of his violent nature, Crowley was kept on the top floor that was meant mostly for storage and where few patients were kept. This meant he would be able to get to the roof and steal a helicopter much easier than if he were on a lower floor.

He had quickly memorized the times the guards would be making their rounds past his room and was able to predict the time when they would be farthest away from him. Data had even figured out how to turn off the elevators remotely, meaning that if he was able to jam the stairwell door leading up to the roof, the guards would have to run all the way to the other side of the building to the other stairwell to get up there, giving him plenty of time to escape.

VILE didn’t bother with monitoring the audio of the hospital, but they still took video of it, and Crowley knew the second they figured out he was trying to run, they would be on him like flies on shit, and he wouldn’t have a moment to lose. He knew he was a valuable asset, but if VILE were to foil his escape plan, there was no telling what they might do to him.

Finally, when the moment was just right, Crowley made his escape. The pain in his leg was excruciating, and he knew he was probably doing permanent damage to it by running like this, but he didn’t care. Just as he thought he would get out of there without so much as seeing a guard, he came face to face with an operative named Gator, a large man who was filling in at the hospital as a guard.

Crowley was without his weapons and knew Gator could kick his ass in hand-to-hand combat when he wasn’t injured. He did, however, have one trick up his sleeve. Quick as a whip, Crowley pulled a pen from his jacket pocket and jabbed it into Gator’s eye, ignoring the other man’s anguished crys as he made his way to the stairwell.

As he got to the roof, he jammed the door with a broom handle, and sprinted for the nearest helicopter. While he wasn’t the best pilot, he did learn how to fly a helicopter a few years back in order to complete an assignment.

As he prepared for takeoff, the door to the door was suddenly being slammed against, as if somebody was trying to break it down, and Crowley knew the broom handle wouldn’t last long. Just as he was able to get the helicopter in the air, the broom handle finally gave in, but at that point it was too late; there was nothing they could do.

Crowley was now a fugitive of VILE; free, but still on the run from the organization he once served. But Crowley had a place he could hide. He had never told VILE that he had kept his crappy, little apartment in Glasgow; instead, going through the effort of convincing them that he had moved to a nice apartment in London that he never actually used. VILE didn’t know that he had secretly moved Moose Boy and Otter Man into his crappy little apartment after a close call with ACME, assuming they were still in Sweden.

As much as he wanted to take VILE down quickly and ruthlessly, his options were fairly limited. He had no way of contacting ACME, and even if he did, they would probably leave him to rot in a jail cell after he told them what he wanted. Any type of government was out, as most of them would just assume he was crazy and lock him away. Not to mention, most world governments were rife with VILE corruption, especially in Europe. His options when it came to allies were limited.

Besides Data, Moose Boy, Otter Man, and Shawna (despite not being involved in VILE, she did know of them), there wasn’t really anyone else. He wasn’t close to many other VILE operatives, and he didn’t think Neal would want to leave VILE. There was one other person he figured he could find allyship in: Carmen Sandiego. That was if she could ever forgive him for his actions.

Nighthawk hated patrolling the halls of the hospital. Not only was it mind numbingly boring, it also reminded her of her time back at the military bootcamp she was at before joining VILE. With a sigh, she looked down at her watch and realized she would have to go get Lonestar soon. Just as she was about to make her way to the basement, her communicator suddenly started buzzing like crazy.

She knew exactly what it meant and turned on the device to read the message.

_Attention all personnel, an operative named Crowley located on the top floor appears to be attempting to make an escape. He is considered to be highly dangerous, so all guards report to the top floor to deal with him (using extreme caution when you do so), and all others shelter in place until further notice._

Without a second thought, Nighthawk sprinted towards the nearest stairwell and up towards the top floor. She was extremely close to where the operative was, and considering how injured he appeared to be, if Gator couldn’t stop him, she certainly could.

When she finally got to the top floor, she found Gator bleeding heavily from his eye. For a brief second, she considered stopping to help him, before remembering that her only job right now was to stop Crowley, heading back to the stairwell, she dashed up the last flight of stairs to the roof, only to find the door jammed.

Nighthawk had done track and field back in high school, and even she wouldn’t be able to run to the other side of the building towards the only other stairwell with roof access in time. Instead she began to repeatedly throw all her weight against the door, hoping to force it open.

Being six feet tall and very muscular, Nighthawk was no small woman. It wasn’t long before she could feel whatever object was being used to keep the door closed begin to break. But by the time she finally got the door open, the helicopter was already taking off and all she could do was let it go.

Cursing, Nighthawk made her way back inside the building to go and deal with Gator.

When he wasn’t busy with his duties as VILE’s main dentist, Dr. Llywelyn spent a lot of his time wandering the halls near radiology. His living quarters were down in that wing of the building, and while he had plenty of things to do in there, he often got bored and would take walks around the building.

While he had access to the entire grounds of the hospital, he usually stayed in this area, as the patients posed less of a threat to him in this location as most would already be heavily sedated, and the guards didn’t like him wandering around outside since they thought he was nuts.

In actuality, it was more of an act. Dr. Llywelyn used his behaviors as a coping mechanism, and a way to keep others away, after having been burned too many times. The dentist had a sorted love life, and an abnormal home life as it was. His family had always wanted him to be a doctor, but his interest had always been in teeth.

He used his odd behaviors to distance himself from the operatives, and just people in general. Frankly, it was easier to blame his failed relationships on the fact that he chose to be weird than it was that there might be something wrong with him.

As he was wandering the halls, his communicator began to buzz. With a sigh, he pulled it out of his pocket and read the message.

_Attention all personnel, an operative named Crowley located on the top floor appears to be attempting to make an escape. He is considered to be highly dangerous, so all guards report to the top floor to deal with him (using extreme caution when you do so), and all others shelter in place until further notice._

There really wasn’t a point to sheltering in place so long as he was down here. Crowley had no reason to be down in radiology, as it would be much easier to head to the roof than down to the front entrance from where he was on the top floor

The wing of the hospital was just as quiet as ever. All the guards had headed upstairs-along with Dr. Vess-to deal with the incident unfolding. Dr. Llywelyn paid the whole incident no mind. These things happened quite frequently-albeit with less dangerous patients-and besides staying somewhere safe, there wasn’t much else he could do. There was nothing he could actually do to help, and if he actually tried, he would more likely be chastised than anything else.

As he continued on his way, he spotted someone else wandering the halls, someone who looked even more out of place than him. Upon closer inspection, he saw it was an operative by the name of Lonestar. At 6’5” and 220 pounds, Lonestar was easily one of his biggest and strongest patients, but Dr. Llywelyn was far from afraid of the man.

Lonestar had a sweet personality, and was very friendly, if a bit childlike. He never started fights, only getting involved to break up conflict or to protect his friends. He was one of the few patients Dr. Llywelyn was willing to work on without having a guard in the room with them.

He had been told that Dr. Vess had been studying Lonestar for some reason, but had never been told why (although, he was aware of the operative having some brain damage, so he assumed this might be the reason for it). Either way, Lonestar should not be wandering the halls on his own. Dr. Llywelyn assumed he must have gotten scared or confused after Dr. Vess and whatever guard was supposed to be dealing with him suddenly took off and went to find out what was going on.

“You shouldn’t be here.” He told the operative, who seemed oddly spaced out. “It isn’t safe for you to be wandering around down here. Come on, I’ll take you back-“

Dr. Llywelyn was suddenly interrupted as Lonestar collapsed to the ground. The dentist froze, watching in horror as the operative began to convulse right in front of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dr. Vess belongs to Violetfic. Headcanon about Dash liking Fashion Design/Drawing is from MangoKat.
> 
> I'll try to have the next chapter out by the 14th, but can't really make any promises. 
> 
> As always, if you liked it, please leave some feedback.


	16. The Escapist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After leaving VILE, Crowley is intent on taking his revenge and will stop at nothing to avenge his angel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning for this chapter: Violence, anxiety/depression, issues relating to physical disability.

Despite having been taught what to do when someone was having a seizure, Dr. Llyewlyn couldn’t for the life of him remember. He knew you weren’t supposed to stick a wallet in their mouth, or try to immobilize them, but that was about it. Either through drinking or simple forgetfulness, the information had slipped his mind.

Dr. Llyewlyn had always been a brilliant man and could have easily gone on to become a doctor like his family had wanted him to but chose dentistry instead for a few different reasons. The first was his interest in teeth. From a young age he had collected the baby teeth of himself and his siblings. One of his favorite childhood pastimes was scoring the farmland for lost teeth of animals, or the skulls of dead wildlife with the teeth still intact to add to his collection. He kept his collection in a box below the floorboards of his bedroom, knowing his mother would freak out if she found them. Hell, his box of teeth was probably still down there, between the floor of his childhood bedroom and the celling of the kitchen.

The second reason was that becoming a doctor like his parents had wanted would only serve to keep him in that little town forever. The only doctor in the area was getting old and would have to retire soon. Had Dr. Llyewlyn become a doctor instead, he would be all but forced to replace the man after graduation. He felt that little town too judgmental for its own good and made the decision to get out of there as soon as possible, cutting off his entire family as he knew they wouldn’t approve of his choices or lifestyle.

The third was the significantly lower amount of pressure in dentistry than in other forms of medicine in his opinion. There had never been a moment in Dr. Llyewlyn’s career that he felt someone’s life was in his hands, while Dr. Vess had to deal with that type of pressure on a daily basis. Dr. Llyewlyn was a professional and very rarely made mistakes, but when he did, there was always a solution. An operative wouldn’t die if he accidentally extracted the wrong tooth, and most of them would be none the wiser that he even did anything wrong.

All of the hospital staff were required to learn basic first aid, Dr. Llyewlyn included. Of course, a lot of them never got around to renewing their certification after they were initially made to, and there wasn’t much Dr. Vess could do to make sure they were all current, as he was far too busy. Most of the staff figured they would never need it, anyways, as there was always a doctor or nurse around. Of course, most of them would probably also freeze up if in Dr. Llyewlyn’s situation.

As Lonestar stopped convulsing Dr. Llyewlyn noticed that the now unconscious operative was bleeding from when he had initially fell and hit his head. Now, that was something he knew how to deal with. After stitching up the taller man, Dr. Llyewlyn called Dr. Vess to come and deal with the situation.

“Sven, are you sure you are okay to head to the bookstore alone?” Fretted Moose Boy. “I could go with you or do it instead. Driving there would be much quicker than you taking the bus.”

Because he allowed them to live in his apartment rent free, Crowley often asked favors of Moose Boy and Otter Man, usually small stuff. As an avid reader, when the Scotsman had learned one of his favorite writers was publishing a new novel, he had preordered it as soon as he could. Unfortunately, the bookstore he had preordered it from was about an hour away by car or an hour and a half by train.

Normally Moose Boy would be the one to do this sort of thing, but Otter Man had been feeling a bit useless lately due to his vision (at this point, he was legally blind) and the fact that he wasn’t even that good of a fighter before the accident. He felt he needed to prove that there was actually use in VILE keeping him around (they hadn’t sent him or Moose Boy out on any assignments since their failure in Stockholm), despite the fact that he was slowly becoming completely blind.

“Henrik, I’m blind, not stupid.” He replied, growing a bit irritated from his partner’s constant overprotectiveness. “I can do things on my own; stop treating me like an invalid.”

“Sven, I’m not trying to say that. You’re smart, and amazing, and a wonderful person.” Said Moose Boy. “I just worry about you since you don’t see as well as you used to, and there’s a lot of crime around here. And Shawna said that area of the city is-“

“Shawna says every area of the city is dangerous; she thinks we can’t take care of ourselves.” He argued. “And what does she even care? Just because she’s friends with Alistair she thinks she needs to protect us or something. I’m going to the bookstore on my own, and that’s final.”

Moose Boy knew better than to argue further as anything else he said would only get Otter Man more worked up than he already was. “Okay, Sven, just please be careful. _Jag älskar dig_.”

Otter Man sighed. He knew his partner was just trying to take care of him, but it only served to make him feel weak and useless. “_Jag älskar dig_.”

Shawna wasn’t planning on going out that day, but when she heard that some Snakes had been spotted in her territory, and had managed to kill one of her own, she decided it was time for the Rat Queen to make an appearance. The Snakes had been a thorn in her side even before she had become the leader of the Glasgow Rats, and she was determined to exterminate every last one of them. Of course, she had more important things to do than hunt down each and every Snake, but when they came into her territory and killed a Rat, she made time.

Just as she was getting ready to leave, Crowley stumbled into her apartment, looking like a wreck. His hair was messy and uneven, his clothes were a bit charred, his skin-at least the parts that weren’t covered by his clothing-was marred with new burn scars he didn’t have before, his hair and clothes seemed to be slightly wet, and he appeared to be limping quite a bit.

“Ye look like shite.” Was all she could say.

“Aye, it’s been a rough few days.” He told her. “Rough couple months, I guess. I was gonna visit Henrik and Sven but wanted to see ye first. How ye been?”

“I’d be better if those fookin’ Snakes learned their place.” Replied Shawna. “I wish I could stay and talk with ye, but I needty do some extermination. I’d invite ye along, but ye don’t look up to it.”

In his time before joining VILE, Crowley had been a member of the Rats. He absolutely despised the Snakes, not only because they were a rival gang-the Snakes were far from the only gang who had clashed with the Rats-but because they had killed his lover/best friend right in front of him, and subsequently turned Shawna into the cold person she was today.

“Ye know I’m always up fer a little Snake smashin’.” He chuckled. “Where are they this one?”

“Off of Black.” She told him. “Near the bookstore ye fancy so much. Ye sure yer up fer this? This ain’t no square go we’re talkin’ here?”

“Ye act like I’ve forgot how tae fight.” Replied Crowley. “I got a book order at that store, wonder if Henrik’s gotten it yet.”

Shawna knew she could take those Snakes down on her own, and frankly, Crowley looked like he would be more of a hinderance than anything right now. Knowing how stubborn he was, however, she relented.

“Fine, ye can come if yer careful.” Said Shawna. “Ye got yer bike parked close?”

“I don’t have her anymore.” Replied Crowley. “I almost got killed, crashed a helicopter into the River Clyde, and now VILE wants tae kill me. She was the least of my worries.”

“Bikes are replaceable, I guess. I got mine fueled up outside. Just got a new engine and everything. She’s faster than yers ever was.”

Unless there was a lot of work to be done, or the weather was particularly unfavorable, Magpie would take an hour off for lunch and head out to eat somewhere. Roundabout didn’t care so long as she stayed nearby and got all of her work done on time. Going out also gave her a chance to keep an eye out for anything odd, and since her eyes were a lot better than Roundabout’s, he semi-encouraged it.

Seeing as it was one of the rare sunny days of fall (London often seemed as if it was in a permanent overcast), she decided to head to the nearby café with outdoor seating. When she had lived on her own, Magpie would have never been able to afford to eat here more than once a month providing she budgeted carefully, much less practically every day. £6 an hour (a perfectly legal salary for persons under twenty years of age that didn’t take into account if they were supporting themselves or not) didn’t buy much in London, and a lot of what she stole was too recognizable to pawn, so it just ended up at the bottom of the River Thames.

By all accounts, joining VILE was a smart decision on her part. She was earning more money, using her thieving skills for her career, and generally doing better for herself than she otherwise would have. Her involvement with VILE had been a complete accident.

Magpie was far from a bigtime criminal, even if she had stolen quite a few high value items, and VILE would have likely never approached her otherwise. During her day job as a window washer, Magpie had been scoping out a particular diamond necklace owned by the resident of one of the high-class apartments. She liked the piece because of the shine it had, but unbeknownst to her, it was extremely valuable and desired by many people, including VILE.

By pure coincidence, the night she set out to steal the necklace was the same night VILE had sent out two operatives to retrieve it. Moose Boy and Otter Man were probably the worst operatives out there, and Magpie had no idea why VILE even kept them around, as she was able to elude the two men without any training. After she had managed to thwart their heist, VILE tracked her down and in exchange for the necklace, allowed her to enroll in VILE academy.

After Magpie had ordered her lunch and was seated, waiting for her food to be ready, her communicator suddenly rang. She groaned, assuming it was Roundabout calling her back early, but was pleasantly surprised to see the call came from Nighthawk.

“Hello, Kaia.” She said into the phone, always happy to hear from her girlfriend. “I always love to hear from you, but I thought we agreed to only talk on the phone after six o’clock London time, as I work until five and don’t get back to my flat until then. But, since you caught me on a lunch break, I suppose we can chat now.”

_“Mags, I am not calling to chat.” _Replied the other woman. _“Something bad has recently happened at the hospital.”_

Magpie rolled her eyes. “Yes, Kaia, I know that Crowley went AWOL; I know the Head Faculty is trying to keep it on the down low for now, but Roundabout did tell me, as he wants me to keep an eye out and knows that I’m smart enough to not go around telling everybody. Besides, you shouldn’t be sharing privileged information like this; VILE wouldn’t be too happy for this to spread to all the other operatives.”

_“That wasn’t the bad thing that happened. I was in the army for a while Mags, I know not to go around giving out information that is strictly on a need to know basis. This is about Mathew; during the lockdown due to the aforementioned Crowley incident, he had a seizure. They’re planning on moving up his surgery to a few weeks from now, and keeping him in the hospital until then, due to fears of another seizure. You should come and see him as soon as possible; Damien and Leo will be there as well.”_

“Oh shit! I’ll have to call you back, Kaia. I need to call Roundabout and tell him I need a few days off. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Love you.”

_“Love you too, Mags.”_

Magpie quickly ended the call and dialed Roundabout’s number.

_“Margaret, you usually do not contact me during your lunch breaks.” _Roundabout simply stated. _“What’s the matter? Have you noticed something suspicious you felt I needed to be made aware of?”_

“Not exactly, sir.” Replied Magpie. “Its more of a personal emergency. I had something come up, and I am going to need to leave the country for a few days immediately. I promise I will not be gone long and will get all of my work done remotely while I’m gone.”

_“I don’t mean to pry, but what is this personal emergency you must attend to?” _He asked suspiciously. _“Normally, I would not ask, but with the Crowley situation, I cannot be too careful at the moment.”_

“Sir, I assure you, my loyalty is still with VILE.” She told him. “One of my former classmates and friend, Lonestar has been hospitalized and will go into surgery soon. I want to see him before he goes under the knife. I will be visiting a VILE hospital, so I’ll have access to internet the entire time.”

_“I see. Yes, that sounds perfectly fine. I will give you a week, but you must still complete your work by now, and are not to make any stops along the journey, I will even have VILE pick you up at the airport in a private plane so that you do not have any stopovers, understand?”_

Magpie thought he was being a bit paranoid but didn’t say anything. “Yes, sir, thank you.”

Otter Man had a decent enough sense of direction. His poor vision, however, made this almost inane. Exiting the bookstore into the city where all the streets seemed to look the same (at least to him), and he quickly found himself down an ally he didn’t mean to go down. Stood by a dumpster was a group of thugs, waiting for an easy target. Upon spotting him, they began to step closer.

“Hey, four eyes, ye take a wrong turn?” Chuckled one guy. “Maybe if ye hand over yer wallet without a fight, we’ll let ye go without hurtin’ ye. Maybe.”

Four eyes, how original. Neal could come up with better insults for Otter Man’s glasses any day, and he did it jokingly. These idiots were trying to be serious, and they sucked at it.

“Isn’t this the Glasgow Rats territory? Do you think they would be too happy to know you were harassing people around here?” Asked Otter Man. “Petty crime brings police attention and I know for a fact the Rats like to avoid that at all costs.”

Normally, when Otter Man implied a personal connection to the Glasgow Rats, people backed off. Most, if not all, petty criminals and thugs in the area either feared the Rats, or respected them and wanted to join them, but this punk just laughed.

“Those Rats think they’re the fookin’ shite. We killed of those bastards just this mornin’. We Snakes eat Rats fer breakfast, and if ye think we’re goin’ tae let ye go now, ye can forget it.”

With a shaky hand, Otter Man withdrew the gun he kept concealed in his jacket. He hadn’t killed anyone in ten years, and he didn’t want to break that streak. But if it was his life or theirs, he wouldn’t hesitate to shoot.

Again, the madman of a leader laughed, shoving Otter Man to the ground before he could fire a single shot, knocking his glasses off and shattering them in the process. Otter Man was even blind _with_ his glasses, and without them, he was screwed. Just as he thought he was done for, the thugs suddenly stopped.

Otter Man couldn’t see what had made them stop, but when he heard the distinct cracking of a metal chain against the pavement, he had a pretty good idea of the situation.

“First ye come in here and kill one of my own.” A voice he recognized as Shawna-their neighbor and one of Crowley’s closest pre-VILE friends-growled. “Now I find you fookin’ with my friend in my territory. Ye Snakes are really starting tae piss me off.”

“I’m going tae fookin’ kill every one of ye!” Shouted Crowley. “Invadin’ Rats territory is one thing, but ye never fook with my friends.”

“Alistair, as much as I appreciate yer energy when it comes tae this sort of thing, ye gotta leave one bastard alive tae tell the tale.” Said Shawna. “Den Mother needs tae know that _we _were the ones tae kill her men, so she’ll keep them the fook outta Rat territory.”

That had always been their approach; kill most of the members of a rival gang who dared wander into their territory and treat it as their own but leave one alive to report back to the leader. Most gangs were smart enough to only have this happen to them once and would either keep a low profile in areas patrolled by the Glasgow Rats, or avoid them completely. The Snakes, on the other hand, seemed to think they were hot shit and come into the Rats territory with the full intent of causing trouble.

Crowley didn’t exactly seem pleased with the idea of letting even one Snake go alive, especially after he had just stopped them from killing Otter Man, but he gave Shawna a nod, and pulled out a lead pipe from his jacket.

Normally, Crowley’s weapon of choice was fire, but considering his escape from VILE was such a fresh event, he couldn’t risk giving any indication of who he was. Many of VILE’s operatives were unusually tall or muscular, but Crowley, on the other hand was pretty average looking, and could easily pass for just some random punk. He was even planning on bleaching his hair later to make himself more unrecognizable.

Crowley wasn’t super worried about VILE tracking him down to Glasgow. Not only did he still have his original communicator (all models built before 2015 lacked a tracking chip, and he graduated in 2010), but Data had purposely broken the communicator network so calls could not be traced, claiming it was a glitch caused by a software update Dr. Bellum had recently installed, and while she wasn’t completely sure how to fix it, she would try to get it fixed between the other more important things she was working on (Data was always busy, so it made sense that she wouldn’t have time to fix a bug, and Dr. Bellum was unlikely to do it, and it wouldn’t be questioned by the Head Faculty with everything else that was going on). Of course, it didn’t hurt that he had convinced VILE that Shawna hated him for leaving and he would be killed if he ever stepped foot in Glasgow again.

Crowley knew he always had issues with letting his rage get the better of him, but in situations like this, it worked out alright. The Snakes were backed into an ally by him and Shawna, so he didn’t have to worry about them running away. He took great pleasure bashing their brains out with the pipe, but just like Shawna had asked, he left the last one alive. Instead, he backed the thug into a wall, pulled out a knife, and carved an X into the back of each of his hands.

The Glasgow Rats would carve X’s into the back of rival gang members hands to mark them as a designated survivor. If a Rat caught someone in their territory with fresh, bloody X’s, they would let them go. Any rival gang members caught in the Rat’s territory with scarred over X’s on the backs on their hands would be killed instantly-even if they were not causing any trouble-as they should have learned their lesson.

“Tell Den Mother, Rat Queen sends her regards.” Said Shawna, shoving the survivor out of the ally and back in the directing he came from.

They didn’t have to worry about dealing with the bodies, or with the cops showing up too soon. This was a bad area, and people tried their best to stay out of other people’s business. The cops never really bothered dealing with gang-on-gang violence, anyways, as the Rats liked to keep their territory quiet, and if anything, kept a lot of aspects of crime down.

After his rage somewhat subsided, Crowley walked over to where Otter Man was. He offered his hand and pulled the other man to his feet.

“Ye okay?” He asked. “Did the Snakes hurt ye?”

“My glasses!” Demanded Otter Man. “I need them. Where are they?”

“Ye aren’t gonna get far with these.” Said Shawna, holding up the bent frames with shattered lenses. “They’re broken as all hell. Alistair, make sure he gets home alright. I needty meet with some of my members.”

“Hey! I’m perfectly capable of getting myself home, even without my glasses.” Argued Otter Man. “My vison isn’t even that bad.”

He turned to walk away, but instead walked right into the side of the alleyway, once again knocking himself to the ground.

“Ye can’t see shite without yer glasses.” Said Crowley. “I’ll help ye get back home.”

Otter Man sighed in defeat. “Fine, I can’t see without my glasses and could really use a hand getting home. But just so you know, I could have taken those bastards down without your help. I can protect myself; you know.”

“We can talk about this later.” Replied Crowley. “Let’s get ye home first; I want tae talk tae Henrik as well.”

Crowley was pretty certain that if he and Shawna hadn’t been in the right place at the right time, Otter Man would be dead. He wasn’t the best fighter, even before he lost his vision, and considering the fact that he was pretty much blind even with his glasses, there was no way he could have defended himself without them. Crowley didn’t want to get into it right now, however, as he knew how it would end, and wanted to get Otter Man home and to his spare pair of glasses before he decided to storm off or something.

“Ye two be safe.” Said Shawna, heading in the direction of where she had parked her motorcycle. “See ye later.”

Crowley watched as she mounted her bike and drove off.

“Come on, Sven, lets get ye home.” He said, taking the shorter man by the arm and leading him in the direction of the bus stop.

After the bus had arrived and they were seated, Crowley made a point to message Moose Boy to let him know of the situation.

_Sven almost got jumped by the bookstore. Thankfully, Shawna and I were in the area, and we were able to stop it. He’s fine, although he does seem a little shaken and his glasses are broken. He shouldn’t be in that area of the city alone; its pretty dangerous, and he can’t see well enough to protect himself._

** _He still hasn’t fully accepted how bad his sight is. He’s been in denial for years and keeps acting like its not an issue I don’t know what to do._ **

Otter Man’s sight had been a hot button issue for years. Due to an accident on an assignment five years ago, his eyes were severely damaged to the point his abilities as a VILE operative were called into question. Despite being told that he would likely go fully blind within the next five years, Otter Man refused to believe that there was any issue with his eyes.

Otter Man had been with VILE for ten years and hadn’t had much of a life beforehand. He was never an extraordinary operative at any point, and the moment VILE thought he was no longer of use to them, they would most certainly have him mindwiped. Otter Man felt that the moment he accepted that his vision was an issue, VILE would realize he was useless and get rid of him.

To be completely honest, Crowley was actually worried about the future of his friends in regard to VILE. While he knew Neal and Data were safe for the time being (Neal was a good operative, and Data had made certain she herself would never go obsolete), but Moose Boy and Otter Man had been at risk for years, even before the accident.

Crowley did his best to keep the attention off of them, even going as far to have Data use her hacking skills to make sure they were sent out on as few assignments as possible so they would have less chances to screw up. If VILE decided that Otter Man wasn’t worth keeping around, Moose Boy wouldn’t be far behind. The taller man would be lost without his partner and even if he didn’t get himself caught, VILE would quickly run out of use for him.

His best bet right now to protect them was to convince them to leave VILE. Moose Boy and Otter Man had no idea Crowley had gone rogue, and it was possible that they had no that he’d even been injured, much less what he had been doing on his last assignment. Crowley knew Otter Man’s reaction would likely be less than pleasant when he found out about Bobcat.

_I have a plan, but I will have to tell you later since its gonna sound crazy. I know you worry about Sven, and believe me, I do too, but we need to let him cool down for a little while before any of us start talking. I know Sven isn’t going to agree with everything I have to say, and I know I’m a bit worked up right now, too, so its best if we talk tomorrow._

** _I trust you. I know you did hurt Sven and I in the past, but I know you’re trying to change and that you don’t want anything bad to happen to us._ **

Moose Boy had forgiven Crowley for the time he attacked them out of grief and misplaced anger, but there was a good chance Otter Man never would. Having been hurt before, he was never the most trusting of people. Crowley knew the incident was completely his fault and was trying to change. Even if he couldn’t quell his explosive temper, he could at least make sure his friends were never the target of his anger.

Crowley’s anger was the product of years of silence and shame. Years of pretending everything was okay and bottling up the emotions he couldn’t figure out how to express. At some point, in his early teens, those feelings just became too much and came out in the most explosive of ways. He lashed out at everyone and turned from a sweet and obedient child to a violent troublemaker. He wanted to change-at least to some extent-but part of him was afraid he would only open himself up to be victimized again if he let his guard down.

Otter Man was silent for the entirety of the bus ride back, but Crowley didn’t pry. He knew the other man wasn’t exactly happy to have to be rescued. Crowley occupied himself with browsing the internet, searching up recent high-profile crimes in order to keep an eye on VILE. He knew they were looking for him, and if they could find Bobcat, they could certainly find him. Of course, he wanted to finally get his vengeance before they killed him.

Blue Jay hadn’t been out on an assignment in months. Due to the worry that surgeries to speed up the healing of her bones would cause more permanent damage, hampering her oh so important agility skills, she was given quite a while to recover. Of course, it didn’t hurt that VILE was distracted by other issues at the moment and had seemingly forgotten about her.

But eventually, her little vacation came to an end, and VILE decided that she was healthy enough to be sent out on her next assignment. It wasn’t exactly a challenging assignment, but either way, she wasn’t exactly thrilled.

Apparently an extremely dangerous operative by the name of Crowley had gone AWOL, and almost killed another operative during his escape from the VILE run hospital he had been recovering in (while the operative had survived, VILE had made the decision to mindwipe him, as he had to have an eye removed). Of course, a freshly recovered and still slightly green operative would never be sent out to deal with such a threat, but there were still loose ends that needed tying, mainly in the form of Crowley’s friends.

Despite being antisocial and aggressive, Crowley did have a small group of friends that he associated with, all of which were his roommates back when he was a student. Moose Boy and Otter Man didn’t pose much of a threat, and Data was petrified of the outside world to the point where she would never leave VILE out of fear, so that just left Neal the Eel.

Crowley and Neal were pretty close, not only being friends, but having a sexual relationship as well. Neal was a big risk for leaving VILE right now, no matter how loyal he seemed. To combat this, VILE hadn’t been sending him out, and would be sending a spy to keep an eye on him in the form of Blue Jay.

It was unclear if Neal even knew that Crowley had left VILE, but nobody wanted to take any chances. Blue Jay was not to inform Neal why she was now staying nearby. Officially, she was supposed to keep from interacting with him (it was hoped that he wouldn’t even realize she was a fellow VILE operative), but if she did end up talking to him, she was to tell him that she was recovering from an injury and VILE felt the best place for her right now was New Zealand.

Most people would see this as a vacation, but not Blue Jay. Being from New York, she wasn’t a fan of the heat, and preferred it to be on the colder side. She never really liked the beach, either. This was gonna be a fun next couple of months.

It had taken him literal weeks, but Dash was finally done with his projects. He had used up a good deal of the yarn he had been given, along with most of the nice, black fabric he had. This wasn’t an issue, however, as he had been promised more when he ran out, and he was quite proud of the way the two projects had come out.

The knitted blanket he made for Zack wasn’t so much a challenging project as it was a time consuming one. Dash considered himself to be a fairly quick knitter and could whip out a scarf in no time flat, but the blanket was pretty huge and involved multiple different colors and techniques to complete.

The biggest challenge when it came to Ivy’s suit jacket was the sizing. Dash couldn’t exactly ask her for her measurements, as that would be too suspicious. Thankfully, he was an experienced tailor, and could guess her size well enough just from looking at her that he would only have to make slight adjustments if he were off.

Seeing as he was satisfied with both the products, he decided it was now time to give them to their respective recipients.

“Zack!” He shouted from his room. “Come in here; I need your help with something.”

Zack wasted no time getting to Dash’s room, giving a light knock before coming in, even though he was invited.

“What is it?” He asked. “Do you need me to move some furniture for you or something?”

“First of all, if I needed some furniture moved around, I would ask your sister, seeing as she _is _stronger than you.” Replied Dash. “Second of all, this is for you. I made it myself.”

Dash pulled the blanket from under his bed and handed it over. Zack had seen him working on the blanket before, but feigned surprise, albeit poorly.

“Wow, you made that for me? That’s so cool; I didn’t even know you could knit!”

Dash rolled his eyes. He was glad Zack was appreciative, but he really was a bit of an idiot sometimes.

“I made something for your sister, too.” He told him. “Call her in here so I can give it to her.”

“Ivy!” Shouted Zack. “We broke something and need you to fix it!”

“Not again!” She yelled back. “I’ll be there in a second. Whatever it is, just don’t touch it until I get there.”

When Ivy heard Zack, she honestly expected the worst. Maybe a busted water pipe that had ruined the hardwood floors, or a legless dresser. What she did not expect was Dash waiting for her with a gift.

The suit jacket was much smaller than Zack’s blanket, so Dash had just neatly folded it and hidden it in a paper bag, which he presented to Ivy.

“What’s this?” She asked him.

“Something I made for you.” He told her. “Just open it.”

Ivy tore open the paper bag and took out the jacket, surprised not only by the high quality, but how well it fit her style. When she tried it on, she was even more amazed by how well he had perfected her measurements just by sight alone.

“This is amazing!” She told him. “Thanks. You didn’t have to make me anything, but I’m thankful you did.”

“You and your brother, you had no obligation to actually be nice to me, and yet you were.” Said Dash. “This is my way of repaying you for your kindness.”

“Did you learn how to create this stuff from VILE?” Asked Zack.

Dash shook his head. “Please, do you really think VILE would waste their time teaching their operatives how to make clothing? From a young age, I was always interested in fashion, and I even apprenticed a tailor for a few years. My skills may have gotten me my place as Countess Cleo’s assistant, but I sure as hell didn’t learn them from her.”

In some ways, Dash wished he had never joined VILE. He knew his time within the organization had deeply affected him as a person, and he would probably always carry that part of himself. On the other hand, VILE gave him opportunity he wouldn’t have otherwise had. After his adoptive parents had kicked him out upon turning eighteen, he didn’t really have much going for him. His apprenticeship didn’t pay well and was certainly a temporary gig. Without VILE, he would likely no longer be involved in fashion design in any way.

Blue Jay wondered if she was even getting paid for this. Her _assignment _involved simply keeping an eye on an operative known as Neal the Eel in order to make sure he wasn’t involved with the recently traitorous operative Crowley, seeing as the two had been know to be close in the past, but the guy didn’t seem to actually do much.

Due to VILE’s state of semi-lockdown, very few operatives were being sent out, and any operatives who were close to any of the traitors that had recently disappeared (these included not just friends of Crowley, but friends of El Topo and Le Chevre as well) would not be sent out at all, without any reason given by VILE. Many operatives were probably going mad from the restlessness and uncertainty, but not Neal. He seemed to be treating the whole ordeal as an unexpected vacation.

Blue Jay was staying in the same apartment building as him, albeit two floors above. Neal mostly kept to himself, staying in his apartment except to go to the store, or when he would hang out at the beach within view of their apartment building, so he was pretty easy to keep an eye on. He liked to spend his days down at the beach with a small cooler filled with cheap beer and snacks. Blue Jay was amazed by how long such a pale guy could sit in the sun without getting burnt or even tanning.

They had bumped into each other a few times, and while she was sure Neal vaguely recognized her (they never actually worked together, but Neal had likely seen her around when VILE Island was still intact), but he never said anything. At least not yet.

Otter Man hadn’t said much to Crowley or even Moose Boy after returning to the apartment. Upon being given his spare pair of glasses, he simply claimed he was tired and headed off to bed.

Crowley was becoming concerned about Otter Man’s changes in behaviors. He had never been the most energetic person, but now he seemed to spend a large amount of his time asleep. While Otter Man had always been skinny, he seemed even thinner than usual the last two times Crowley had seen him.

Crowley had always suspected Otter Man had some type of anxiety disorder-likely made worse by the abuse and neglect he suffered as a child-so it was likely he could have depression as well. Due to his own past, Crowley had battled with depression in the past, and could identify a lot of the symptoms. While Otter Man was showing signs of loss of motivation caused by depression, he was at least unlikely to be self-harming, as Moose Boy surely would have noticed.

Unfortunately, Otter Man wasn’t becoming any more accepting of his limitations, and as his sight worsened, so would the depression. Crowley wasn’t sure what would happen when Otter Man’s sight was fully gone, but he knew it wouldn’t be good.

“Sven ain’t alright.” He told Moose Boy once they were alone.

The taller man’s expression immediately turned to one of concern and slight confusion. “But you said Sven didn’t get hurt when he was attacked. If he’s injured, we need to wake him up and take care of it.”

Crowley shook his head. “That ain’t what I mean. Sven hasn’t been fine in a long time; we both know it. He’s gonna get himself killed if he keeps this up. Not only can he not protect himself, but he can’t see, even with those thick fookin’ glasses of his.”

“What can we do?” Asked Moose Boy. “Sven won’t admit that his vision is an issue, and if we tried to go to VILE for help, they might mindwipe him.”

“What about a dog?” Suggested Crowley. “We could have Franziska train it, and ye can tell VILE its train to help ye with yer assignments, ye ain’t gotta tell them its to protect Sven and help him keep from getting’ lost.”

“That won’t work.” Said Moose Boy. “Even if Sven were to admit that he can’t see too well, he’d be afraid of any dog big enough to actually be of any help.”

Crowley had forgotten about Otter Man’s phobia of large dogs. He couldn’t really be close to anything bigger than a pug for long, much less rely on it to protect and guide him.

“We’ll think of something.” He assured the other man. “I know its early, but I’m gonna hit the sack, too. Ye will never guess what kinda day I had.”

Moose Boy nodded. “Okay, I’ll try not to make too much noise. Goodnight, Alistair.”

“Goodnight, Henrik.”

While the apartment was technically his, Crowley had all but turned over ownership to Moose Boy and Otter Man. His old bedroom was theirs now, and when he stayed, he would simply sleep on the couch, as it pulled out into a bed.

Ever since graduation, Crowley hadn’t really called anywhere home. He traveled around so much that his old apartment had become nothing more than a storage space, and he no longer felt like he lived there. Maybe this would be his chance to leave the criminal life behind and live a normal existence. But first there was vengeance to be taken.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next I'll be doing a bits and pieces that focuses on Otter Man's past. As always, if you liked my writing, please leave a review.
> 
> Dr. Vess Belongs to Violetfic.


	17. Who we've Become

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a conversation with Crowley, Otter Man face the truth he has been denying for so long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings for this chapter: Depression,

Blue Jay had planned to spend all of her time in New Zealand in her apartment. She wasn’t a fan of the hot weather in the least bit and preferred to stay inside with the air conditioning running. Neal was always at the beach, anyways, which she could see from her apartment, and she had more than enough resources to stay in shape without going outside. A multi day power outage, however, threw a wrench in her plans.

A few powerlines had been knocked down in a storm, and the entire area lost power for almost a week. Blue Jay had attempted to stay inside for the first couple of days, but she was boiling inside, and it was actually a few degrees cooler outside, so she decided to make her way down to the beach.

As per usual, Neal was lying on the beach. His sunglasses made it hard for Blue Jay to know if he was awake or not, but she still gave a polite nod as she walked past, just as she was spreading on her beach towel on the sand, she noticed Neal approaching her.

“_Kia Ora_.” He greeted. “I keep seeing you around, and I know I recognize you from somewhere, but I just can’t put my finger on it, and you sound too American to be a local.”

“We work together, that may be where you know me from.” She explained. “I mean, we haven’t worked together specifically, but we both work for the same organization.”

Neal nodded. “That makes sense. How long ago did you graduate?”

“Four years.” Said Blue Jay. “They sent me to New Zealand since I was badly injured on an assignment a few months back and am currently in recovery from a major surgery on my leg. I’m assuming you’re here because you’re from the country and it makes sense for you to live here in your down time.”

He shrugged. “I haven’t been sent out in a while, so I’m trying to make the most of my free time. I have no idea why they’re keeping me here instead of sending me out, but I’m not complaining.”

“Weren’t you almost Head Faculty?” Asked Blue Jay. “I think I heard something about them thinking about choosing you through the grapevine, back before they decided on Roundabout.”

“Yeah, but I got my ass handed to me by Carmen Sandiego, so that sorta ruined my chances. But Roundabout probably makes more sense since he’s been here longer. So, you just spending your days inside, or do you just not like coming to the beach?”

“A little of both, actually.” She told him. “I didn’t want to go somewhere hot and tropical while I recovered from my injuries, so I mostly stay inside. I only came down to the beach today because the power was out, and I was absolutely boiling up there. Even though I’m cleared for mild to medium physical activity, there just isn’t much I want to do around here.”

“You know, there are other things to do around here than going to the beach and staying inside all day.” Said Neal. “I could show you if you want. You free tonight?”

“That works for me.”

It would be much easier to keep an eye on Neal if she were around him.

Card Trick had a sorted history when it came to doctors and healthcare in general. He had a pretty normal childhood up until the age of ten. Following his mother’s death, he and his father essentially faded from existence. Card Trick was taken away from the rest of the family on his mother’s side, pulled from school, and not brought to a doctor or dentist even again (his father saw the entire American healthcare system as a scam). As far as the law was concerned, he probably still counted as a missing person from way back then.

He spent the next six years of his life living out of hotel rooms, and conning people alongside his father up and down New Orleans. Most of his education was based off of what would be useful as a con artist, meaning that while he was perfectly literate, good at math, and knew his share of human psychology, he was far from versed in history or science.

While they had a number of scams going (plus, their fair share of pickpocketing), the one they had used the most often was the cup and ball guessing game one. This con could be pulled off by one individual but worked better with two. The trick was simple enough, his father would set up a table with three cups, under one would be a ball. The goal of the game was to guess what cup the ball was under, and if you were correct, you got back double the money you put down. In order to draw up attention, Card Trick would play a few rounds, and _win _a ton of money from doing it (he took after his mother quite a bit, so most people wouldn’t assume they were even related), thus drawing in the attention of passerby. What these new players didn’t know, however, was that the game was rigged; you couldn’t win. A few lower bets would be allowed to win in order to keep away suspicion, but other than that, everyone who played would walk away with nothing.

Oftentimes these scams would end in injury. People would realize they were being duped and want their money back. Most of they time they got away just fine, other times, not so much. Card Trick could remember many instances of being stitched up by his father in a hotel bathroom, or having dislocated limbs popped back into place like it was no big deal. Due to his father’s unwillingness to seek actual medical attention, Card Trick gained a decent knowledge of first aid.

When he was sixteen, Card Trick lost his father. He knew he could have probably turned himself in as a missing person and be reunited with the family he had remaining, but he didn’t want to give up the freedom of the streets, so he kept the life of a con artist up, despite being a bit inexperienced in the trade, and no longer having his father to rely on. The next six years were a blur of scams, beatings, alcohol, and lovers. He had ended up in the hospital a few times (usually due to being beaten unconscious and being dumped outside an emergency room), but he always managed to sneak out before he had to pay any bills, or they could even figure out who he was.

VILE was the first time he had an actual doctor’s appointment in years. He hated every second of it, but seeing as he was reasonably healthy, it wasn’t too bad. The dentist appointment was quite a different story. A large number of Card Tricks teeth had been damaged from regular beatings or bombed out (a technical term, according to Dr. Llyewlyn), and had to be removed. At this point, he probably had more porcelain implants in his mouth than actual teeth.

Card Trick hated hospitals with every fiber of his being and would do anything he could to avoid them. They never failed to bring up painful memories of watching his mother’s slow death or waking up injured and afraid in a strange place.

He knew nobody was forcing him to visit Lonestar in the hospital before his operation-all his friends knew how he felt about hospitals and respected his sediment-but he still felt like he should go. After all, Lonestar was one of his closest friends, and would be undergoing a major operation that had the possibility of going very wrong.

Chameleon had left the day before, and Card Trick was hesitant as he packed a single suitcase, but his feelings of dread didn’t stop him from getting on the next flight out.

The accident five years ago had changed Otter Man, that much was clear, and Crowley was dreading the conversation that they were going to have, knowing full well the issue would come up. He knew losing a great deal of one’s sight in a single instance-and progressively losing more of it as time went on-would be a traumatic experience for anyone, especially someone as fiercely independent as Otter Man, but the Swede seemed to be in complete denial of the issue, and refused to accept that his sight was affecting his performance, or the eventual blindness that would occur.

Crowley knew that if he wasn’t able to get Moose Boy and Otter Man out of VILE soon, they would most certainly be mindwiped sooner than later. The Head Faculty were becoming more and more fed up with the pair’s constant failures, and Crowley knew even just one more failed assignment could be the breaking point.

For the first half of their VILE career, the two had been decent enough operatives. Nothing special, but they could still complete most of their assignments to VILE’s satisfaction. Otter Man, while not particularly strong, had always been highly intelligent and resilient. Moose Boy, on the other hand, wasn’t the most intelligent man, but more than made up for it with his brute strength. They made a great team, and VILE recognized this, allowing them to continue working together despite the rumors of them being in a relationship, something VILE expressly forbid.

After the accident, however, everything changed. Otter Man’s sight highly limited his abilities, and their failure rate and success rate were basically reversed. As Otter Man’s vision got worse of the years, so did their success rate, and VILE was starting to wonder why they kept such useless operatives around.

Crowley knew that such a dramatic injury such as the one Otter Man suffered five years ago could be extremely traumatic, and that denying his vision was hindered was the only thing that was getting him by in VILE, but that would have to change if Crowley was going to get them to leave VILE.

Besides the fact that they would lose ten years of their lives, Moose Boy and Otter Man didn’t really have much to go back to if they got mindwiped; nobody left it all behind to join VILE because they were happy and satisfied with their old life. Moose Boy’s parents had died in a fire not long before he joined VILE, and Otter Man can from physically and emotionally abusive parents that kicked him out when he was just a teenager. They had nobody looking for them, nobody that cared that they practically disappeared in the first place.

Crowley knew he would have a difficult time keeping his cool during the conversation ahead. He was an aggressive person by nature, and if Otter Man started getting too defensive, and tempers flared, Crowley wasn’t sure how he himself would react. He had hurt his friends before and had promised himself he’d never do anything like that again. That was a promise he intended to keep.

Dr. Llyewlyn always wondered why an organization such as VILE, with so many operatives, would only have one dentist. He had complained about his workload multiple times before (it was certainly less that Dr. Vess’s, but Dr. Llyewlyn was nearly thirty years older than the other man, and was slowing down a bit), but that had only gotten him Bloatfly and Undertaker, who he had to train to work under him himself, were not knowledgeable to complete most procedures on their own, and were often pulled for other tasks, thus throwing off his carefully laid out scheduling. This didn’t even account for the extra work he was often expected to do when the rest of the hospital was understaffed.

He would have liked to have every operative in twice a year for a dental cleaning and checkup, but that simply wasn’t going to happen. Even ignoring the understaffing problem, some operatives would avoid coming to see him until they were in pain, had a broken tooth, or another member of the medical staff refused to clear them until they saw him. And other than attempting to talk them into seeing him-or in some cases, have Undertaker strong arm them into coming-there wasn’t anything he could do.

When Dr. Llyewlyn had initially graduated from dentistry school, he actually enjoyed his job to a degree. He was a perfectionist by nature and took great pleasure in fixing his patient’s teeth to perfection. There was always a bit of a thrill in asking them questions while he had his tools in their mouth. Now, especially after VILE island was destroyed, he found himself victim to the grind.

At first, he figured a change of scenery would be just what he needed, but the mountains of Switzerland proved to be the opposite of a relaxing location. Being a Welshman, he was no stranger to inclement weather, but the constant snowstorms and decent days ruined by sudden cold weather were ridiculous. He was so used to the warm island weather that now he was always freezing and getting yelled at for how warm he kept his office and dental suite.

He thought no longer being on an island in the middle of nowhere would give him the freedom to actually go somewhere if he wanted to, but the mountain roads were a pain to drive, and his request for a vehicle would always be denied unless he could find a way to directly relate it to his profession (theoretically he could justify his personal trips with a professional reason, but he didn’t want to put in the effort). Not to mention, his German was absolutely horrendous.

Just after 8 pm, Dr. Llyewlyn was done for the day. He had sent Bloatfly and Undertaker home a few hours prior, as the girls had been working hard all day, and he would be able to finish up on his own. He headed back to the apartment he shared with the sisters, and Vampire Bat, a blood technician from North Korea who had originally trained to be a field operative, but was forced to take a less active role in the organization due to some heart problems she had.

The living situation was the same as it had been back at the island, and Dr. Llyewlyn wouldn’t have it any other way. All three women were like family to him after working together for so long (he had known Bloatfly and Undertaker for nearly seventeen years, and Vampire Bat for almost thirteen), and even with their flaws, he enjoyed their company.

He returned home to find the place dark. Bloatfly and Undertaker were asleep in their respective bedrooms, and Vampire Bat preferred to work late into the night and sleep late into the day. Waiting for him on the kitchen table, however, was a poorly made cake and an envelope with his name on it.

Inside the envelope was a birthday card. _Happy 60th Birthday Gwil. _The card read. _Sorry, we’ve all been a bit busy, and weren’t able to do much. But we did bake you a cake, Jeong-Suk even snuck of work for a bit to help. Sincerely, Whitney, Ruth, and Jeong-Suk._

Dr. Llyewlyn smiled as he read the card. It was a nice reminder that even in a place such as VILE, even after he had left all his family and friends behind decades ago, he still had people who still cared about him. Of course, his smile quickly faltered when he remembered the fact that he had just turned sixty.

He had wasted most of his twenties, his thirties, his forties, and now his fifties with VILE, and he would likely waste his sixties there, too. He would probably be with VILE until some point in his seventies-much like the VILE surgeon they had replaced with Dr. Vess-when his abilities began to faulter with age. He hoped they would just kill him at that point, rather than mindwipe him. He didn’t feel it would be humane to leave someone alive with so much of their life missing.

Crowley sighed. This was going to be the hardest conversation of his life.

“Sven, before I get started with what I wanna say, I needty ye tae promise that ye’ll hear me out.” He told Otter Man. “I’ve done some terrible shit, and ye aren’t gonna believe half of what I’m sayin’, but its important and ye need to listen.”

Otter Man scoffed. “This better not be one of your stupid attempts to apologize to me. I’ll forgive you when I see you actually attempting to make some change.”

“This ain’t about that.” He replied, already a bit on edge. “This is about VILE, and it effects all of us. For starters, I killed Bobcat.”

Moose Boy looked extremely confused. “No, you didn’t; she died on an assignment seven years ago. You said you wanted to kill her because she let Devon die, but you didn’t actually kill her.”

“Don’t ye get it, her death was fake! The body she left behind wasn’t hers, and she spent the rest of her life on a farm. When the Head Faculty discovered she was alive, and they sent me to do it. Ye ain’t supposed to know about any of this.”

Otter Man seemed skeptical of his claims. “So, if we’re not supposed to know any of this, then why even tell us? I’m pretty sure you could get in a lot of trouble for telling us, then. There are so many holes in your story, and what even is the point in lying to us?”

“I ain’t lyin’, and I’m only tellin’ ye this because I left VILE.” Explained Crowley. “When I first got sent out to kill Bobcat, I was searchin’ fer a revenge I never got. But I didn’t get revenge because Bobcat didn’t kill my angel; VILE did.

“The whole assignment was a fookin’ setup. All the operatives on the assignment besides Bobcat were marked as possible traitor, and were supposed tae try and overpower Bobcat, only tae be killed by her in self-defense. Devon wasn’t a traitor, but she found out somethin’ she shouldn’t, and they decided tae get rid of her, too. I wouldn’t have killed her if I knew, but Data found out the truth too late. I respected Professor Maelstrom for years, and the whole fookin’ thing was his idea.

“VILE is worse than we could ever imagine. They ruined our lives, and we need tae take them down before they take us down. It sounds crazy, but we may need tae join forces with Carmen Sandiego.”

“VILE may have ruined your life, but they certainly saved mine.” Said Otter Man. “I was in a terrible situation at the time, and VILE got me out of it.”

“Ye really weren’t.” Replied Crowley. “The way ye tell it, ye were gettin’ yer life together fer the first time, and VILE fooked it up by trying to steal that otter. Sure, if it didn’t happen, ye may have never met any of us, but ye would have achieved yer dream. Now, thanks tae VILE, ye won’t even achieve yer dream.”

Otter Man was becoming flustered. “It was a stupid dream, anyways. VILE is the only reason I’ve survived this long, and I see no point in betraying the organization that has given me so much.”

“VILE is getting’ fed up with yer shite!” The anger Crowley had tried to avoid came bubbling to the surface. “Yer fookin’ going blind, and if ye stay with them much longer, yer gonna get mindwiped. Yer not as good of an operative as ye once were and ye need tae accept it. I’m sick of ye actin’ like everything’s fine when it clearly ain’t!”

“Just because I’m not a killing machine like you doesn’t mean I can’t hold my own!” He shouted. “I could have protected myself just fine yesterday without you! You just happened to be there to kill everyone like you always did.”

“If I hadn’t been there yesterday, ye would be fookin’ dead! I don’t know why ye keep actin’ like this where yer clearly blind! Ye need tae accept the truth before ye and Henrik lose everything! I’m yer friend, Sven, I wanna protect you, but ye gotta accept that ye need protectin’ first.”

Otter Man glared at Crowley. “I’m going to bed.”

“But Sven, its three in the afternoon.” Argued Moose Boy. “Isn’t it a little early? Plus, you didn’t have much for breakfast or lunch, so you should at least-“

“I said I’m going to bed.” Said Otter Man, walking into their bedroom and slamming the door behind him.

Moose Boy glanced at the door with a sigh. He knew he would have to go and try to talk to his partner in a little while, but Otter Man would just brush off his concern like he always did.

Crowley buried his face in his hands. “I fooked up again. Sorry, Henrik, I’m just no good at keepin’ my temper in check.”

“Its not all your fault.” Moose Boy assured him. “Sven has been like this for a while, even before we left Sweden. I thought he just needed time to adjust, but now I’m thinking he needs more than that. I’ll try to talk to him later, but he never wants to listen or tell me his problems.”

From a young age, Otter Man had been conditioned to bury his problems and put on a façade. He wasn’t used to talking about his emotions or doing anything about them other than bottling them up, and it showed. Much like Crowley’s habit of expressing his emotions through violent outbursts, this behavior would take a lot of work to unlearn.

“I’m goin’ to Shawna’s place.” Said Crowley. “Tell Sven I said I’m sorry. His vision is much worse than he pretends it is, and I think leavin’ VILE is the only option we have, especially after what they did tae Devon, and how they used me like that. I know he’s sensitive about his issues, and I didn’t mean it tae come out that way. I’m tryin’ my best tae change, I promise ye that. But VILE wants me the way I am, and I needty get outta there if I ever wanna be a good person.”

Moose Boy knew how much Crowley wanted to change-especially after the incident following Fallen Angel’s death-but he had always been a violent person by nature, and probably would always hold on to part of that, even with all his efforts to fic himself. Moose Boy had forgiven Crowley for his actions, but he had his doubts that Otter Man ever would.

Most of the time when Otter Man would go to bed extremely early, or stay in bed until the late morning, he didn’t spend all of that time asleep. After all, there was a limit to how much sleep a person could actually get before their body would no longer allow them to fall asleep. He knew it wasn’t healthy to stay in bed all day with his thoughts, but that didn’t stop him from doing it.

Crowley’s words had really resonated with him. Thanks to his VILE training, Otter Man would have no issue taking down that group of Snakes in his earlier years-especially when he was armed and they were not-but the second he lost his glasses, he stood no chance. In fact, it was his poor vision that got him into that situation in the first place, as had he been able to see better, he would not have taken a wrong turn and ended up in the alley.

A lot of Otter Man’s failures could be blamed on his sight. Sometimes he would misjudge a distance and miss his target, sometimes injuring himself in the process. Other times he wouldn’t see his enemies until they already had him and would need to be rescued by Moose Boy. Both of these things seemed to be happening more and more lately.

Otter Man had always maintained that his vision loss wasn’t an issue, but part of him knew that was all a lie. If his eyes weren’t a problem, then why did he become a much worse operative after the accident? Moose Boy had tried to bring the issue up before, but Otter Man had always brushed it off. Crowley was the only one who had every really gotten in his face about it. Feeling unsure of if he even knew his own limitations anymore, he decided to call the smartest person he knew; Data.

Since he had Data’s number saved as one of his speed dial contacts, it took all of two seconds to call her. It rang twice before it was picked up, but not by Data.

_“Heidi is busy.” _Said Sargent Schlachten in her normal, unamused tone. _“She is working on something important for VILE and asked that she not be disturbed.”_

“Look, this is important.” He said harshly, in no mood to deal with this sort of thing right now. “I need to speak with Heidi now. She’s always busy, but she always has time to speak with me when I ask. Just hand her the communicator and let me talk to her.”

_“Heidi told me she wishes not to be disturbed.” _Sargent Schlachten’s words were more forceful this time. _“If you have a message for her, I will pass it along, but neither of us have time for this right now.”_

_“Franziska, who is that?” _Otter Man heard in the background of the call before Sargent Schlachten pressed the hold button and he could no longer hear what was going on on the other line. A couple of minutes later, the phone was picked up again, this time by Data.

_“I’m sorry if Franziska was a little rude to you when you called.” _She told him. _“When I meant that I didn’t want to be distracted, I meant that I didn’t want any of the operatives that call me for tech support to talk to me, not that I wanted to ignore my friends. I should’ve been a little more specific with her. Anyways, what’s up?”_

“Heidi, do you think I’m useless?” He asked her in all seriousness.

She chuckled lightly. _“Of course not, Sven. You’re one of my best friends and I would have never learned English if you hadn’t helped me out back at the academy. Where would you get the idea that you’re useless?”_

“Alistair was saying some stuff. Said he left VILE and that if Henrik and I don’t leave it with him, we’ll end up being mindwiped because we’re incompetent.” Admitted Otter Man. “Tell me the truth; am I useless? To VILE I mean.”

Data was left with a dilemma on her hands. She knew that VILE was getting more and more annoyed with Moose Boy and Otter Man’s failures, and that they were in danger if they stayed with VILE. But she also knew that Otter Man had issues with his self-worth-especially since the accident-and she was afraid of hurting him. She decided it was better to hurt him emotionally than allow his life to be pretty much ruined by VILE.

_“Alistair told the truth when he said he escaped from VILE._” She told him._ “The Head Faculty are trying to keep it a secret that any operatives at all have successfully escaped from VILE, as they fear it will start an uproar. As for you, I really think you should join him. I feel really bad saying this, even though it’s the truth, but you’re far from the operative that you use to be. If you don’t accept that your eyesight has been severely damaged, and that it has impacted your abilities, you are going to lose everything. And don’t think they’re going to let Henrik stay a part of VILE f they mindwipe you.”_

Part of him had always known that his days at VILE were numbered, but it took being told by a close friend for the message to actually get through to Otter Man. And it wasn’t just he who was in danger, but Moose Boy as well. He loved Moose Boy with all his heart, and to not just forget their time together, but take ten years of the life of the man he loved was just something he couldn’t do. He had to stop being in denial of his issues if he wanted to protect both his partner and himself.

“Thank you, Heidi.” He told her. “I needed to hear that; thank you for tell me.”

_“I actually feel kinda bad about saying it, even if it is true.” _Said Data. _“Please remember that there are people who care about you. Don’t do anything stupid.”_

Otter Man grew flustered. “I don’t care what Alistair told you; I’m not depressed!”

Data didn’t seem entirely convinced. _“Yeah, sure you’re not. I’d love to talk more, but I’ve got to get back to work. Another time, okay?”_

“Yes, I’ll call you back later.”

Otter Man put the phone down with a sigh. He needed to talk to Crowley.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be working on a nsfw Ivygriss fic before I write the next chapter of this.
> 
> Dr. Vess belongs to Violetfic.
> 
> As always, if you like my work, please leave a comment.


	18. Epiphany

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dash and Zack become closer, Otter Man realizes that everything he knows about his life with VILE might just be wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's some timeline inconsistencies with the parts with Neal and Blue Jay in comparison with the other parts of this fic, so I apologize in advance. I tried my best to fix it, but its kinda hard keeping track of all these subplots (they all have their reasons for existing, you'll see soon enough).
> 
> Trigger warnings for this chapter: Mentions of brain injury

Over the last month or so, Zack and Dash had gotten significantly closer. Zack was more than aware of how Dash felt about him, and his feelings were certainly the same, but he hadn’t wanted to hurt Dash when he was clearly at a low point in his life, and dealing with just having gotten out of an abusive work situation.

But now, as Dash was beginning to show some good progress in mentally healing, their relation was shifting from purely platonic towards something else. They found themselves spending a lot more time together, not just because Dash couldn’t leave the base and didn’t have much else to do, but because they genuinely enjoyed each other’s company.

On that particular evening, Dash was working on some sort of sewing project. Zack was seated on Dash’s bed, sipping a chocolate milkshake he’d bought on his way home from the fabric store (to pick up something Dash needed for his latest creation, of course), and simply observed the brunette as he worked. Dash’s fingers moved quickly but delicately as he cut and pinned the fabric, preparing to bring it over to his sewing machine to stitch. Zack would never have the patience or gracefulness to do the sort of things he did.

“You’re really good at this stuff.” Said Zack, eyeing a few of Dash’s finished pieces in the corner of the room, and the prototype drawings on the desk. “Have you ever thought of doing it as a job?

“I absolutely hated sewing a designing when I worked for Countess Cleo, as she was so specific with what she wanted. Half the time she would change her mind halfway though and get mad at me for making what she said she wanted in the first place.” He replied. “But thankfully she hasn’t turned me off of the profession completely. I would love to have my own shop someday and sell only my original designs. I swear, I’m already better than half the designers I saw at the fashion show in Milan.”

Zack gave a nod. “Yeah, I don’t get that high fashion crap. Some of those outfits remind me of the time I was eight, got my hands on a glue gun, and glued a bunch of shit to my bedroom wall. My parents weren’t happy with that one, but I guess great art is never appreciated in its time.”

Dash wasn’t really paying attention, instead focusing on stitching a button.

“Dammit!” He exclaimed as the button suddenly slipped from his grasp and disappeared into the area rug beneath his sewing area. “I have exactly the amount of those buttons I need. If I don’t find it, I won’t be able to finish this jacket.”

“Relax, I’ll just go back to the fabric store and pick you up some more.” Said Zack. “Its not the end of the world.”

“I ordered these buttons from a haberdashery in Italy, they took almost a month to get here.” He replied. “I am not putting this project on hiatus for another month because of a stupid button. Its in here somewhere, I know for I fact it didn’t disappear.”

On, _those _buttons. Carmen had been extremely suspicious when Dash sent a relatively small shop in Italy without its own online store over $200 for a small bag of buttons via PayPal, and had even called up the shop to make sure it wasn’t one of VILE’s fronts. It turned out that Dash actually was just ordering buttons; he had bought buttons from the shop before and liked the quality, and handcrafted buttons made of vintage brass weren’t exactly cheap. Zack wasn’t even sure Carmen would let him order more. Not because of the cost, but because the transaction still seemed suspicious to her.

“Here, I’ll help you look for it!” He told Dash.

He attempted to put his half-drunk milkshake on the bedside table blindly, but was slightly off, causing the beverage to tip over and spill all over the side of the bed and the hardwood floor.

Dash looked at the mess, and then back at Zack. “Okay, I’ll fine the button on my own, you just deal with the mess you’ve made, and try not to be such a klutz. That could have easily spilt on some of my design sketches, which are by all means irreplaceable.”

Zack grinned sheepishly. “Sorry about that, guess I should work on being more careful. I’ll go get a towel and wipe that up.”

“Make sure you wash the floor with soap and water.” Instructed Dash. “If you just wipe it up, it will leave a sticky residue on the floor, and I’ll get ants in here. You know very well how I feel about bugs.”

Two weeks before, a spider had found its way into the kitchen. Dash, upon spotting the bug, climbed on top of the kitchen table, and didn’t come down until Ivy had taken care of the spider. Zack didn’t like spiders either, but he felt Dash had overreacted a bit about what was nothing more than a small Daddy Longlegs.

“You know, you’re really starting to sound like my sister.” Said Zack. “She’s always telling me that I’m ‘not cleaning right’ or, ‘making more of a mess than I’m fixing’.”

Dash rolled his eyes. “And this is why your room looks like a pigsty. Just hurry up and clean up the mess you’ve made before I get bugs in here!”

Zack grabbed the dirty blankets off the bed-thankfully the milkshake hadn’t seeped down into the sheets so he wouldn’t have to change those-carefully carrying them into the laundry room as not to splatter the spilled drink and create more of a mess. He tossed the blankets in the washing machine, added the soap, and started the cycle. Dash’s blankets wouldn’t be washed and dry until the morning at best, but they had spares in the hallway linen closet.

He then headed to the kitchen to grab some cleaning supplies, before returning to Dash’s room to deal with the mess. Zack even went as far as moving the bed to the side, just to make sure he didn’t leave anything behind. After putting away the cleaning supplies, he headed to the linen closet, grabbing a few of the spare blankets that he thought Dash wouldn’t completely hate. By the time he returned with the blankets, Dash had finally located his missing button and was now working on adding it to his project.

“Good, it looks like you actually did a decent job cleaning up after yourself.” Said Dash. “Now, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”

Zack sighed. “Let’s just say there’s a reason why I volunteered to do most of the cooking around here instead. So, you said you’re making a jacket, right? Is it one of the new designs I saw you working on earlier?”

“Actually, it is based off of a jacket I used to own.” He explained. “It was one of the first things I ever designed and created myself, I even had it before I started working for Countess Cleo. Of course, the first time I disrespected her; the Countess destroyed it in a fit of rage to teach me a lesson and did the same with any attempt I made to recreate it. I’m not even sure how close this comes to the original, as I not longer have pictures-much less the original design plans-of it anymore.”

Zack really was glad they had gotten Dash out of there, even if it was only because of a chance encounter. It was pretty clear that Countess Cleo was abusive towards her assistant, the abuse being much more emotional than physical. She purposely made Dash feel small so that he would stay dependent on her and never believe he had any other options.

“It looks really awesome.” He told Dash. “Is it almost done?”

“Give me a few more days, then I’ll have it finished.”

“So, ye got kicked out of yer own apartment?” Shawna had asked him when he showed up at her place. “That’s a load a shite.”

“Naw, I left on my own because Sven needed some time tae cool off.” Crowley told her. “Ye know how he can be.”

“Ye want me tae try talkin’ tae him?” She suggested.

He shook his head. “Naw, Sven has issues he’s not ready tae deal with. I hurt him before, and he doesn’t know you well, so its best tae let Henrik deal with him when he’s in this state.”

Otter Man was basically the human form of anxiety sometimes, but always pretended he was okay, even when it was clear he was not. He clearly needed help but wasn’t going to get it so long as he remained with VILE.

“Ye needty crash here tonight?”

He nodded. “That would be well good. Tryin’ tae keep a low profile for now, at least until I get around tae dyein’ my hair blonde.”

Shawna stared at his dyed black locks. “Thought ye’d go back tae yer natural red. Ye could dye it back for now, and never worry about yer roots again.”

“Aye, but VILE has seen me with red hair, they never seen me blonde. Besides, my roots aren’t nearly as red as they used to be.”

All of a sudden, there was a knock at Shawna’s door. All the apartments had doorbells, but everyone who lived there took to knocking on each other’s doors. It made it much easier to tell if it was a resident of the building, or someone else at the door, as most people not familiar with the culture of that particular building just went for the doorbell.

Shawna let out a loud sigh. “That fookin’ bitch next door thinks I’m stealin’ the letters from her kids, can’t get over that they ain’t talkin’ to her anymore. If she doesn’t fook off, I really am gonna start stealin’ her mail.”

She checked the peephole before turning back to Crowley. “Its Sven, he doesn’t look angry. Should I let him in?”

Crowley was confused. “Why the fook would he be here? Especially without Henrik. Something ain’t right; let him in.”

Shawna did as she was told, opening the door for Otter Man.

“Ye alright?” She asked him. “I never see ye without that boyfriend of yers.”

“I’m fine; Henrik still thinks I’m in bed.” He told her. “I need to talk to Alistair.”

Crowley tensed up. “Look, Sven, I’m sorry fer what I said to ye. It was the heat of the moment; I didn’t mean any of that shite. I’m tryin’ tae stop hurtin’ ye, but I ain’t very good at it.”

“Actually, I came over here to apologize to you.”

Crowley was a bit taken back. “Sven, ye have nothing tae apologize fer. I lost my temper, its my fault ye got upset and snapped at me. Yer not usually like this, are ye feelin’ okay?”

“I’m fine. It’s just that, I did a little thinking, and I realized you’re right.” He told him. “I’m legally blind, even with my glasses, and I need to stop pretending that it isn’t true. My vision is terrible, and I’m completely useless as an operative because of it. VILE isn’t going to keep me around much longer.

“I called up Data and she corroborated your story about leaving VILE. She didn’t tell me if the stuff about Bobcat and Devon was true as well, but if you’re telling the truth about something as big as leaving VILE, I guess I’m going to have to believe the rest of it. You were right. VILE didn’t save my life; it ruined it.”

Crowley was conflicted and didn’t know how to feel. On one hand, he was happy that Otter Man had finally come to his side and would be leaving VILE with his memories intact. On the other, if someone else had talked about Otter Man that way, calling him useless and saying VILE had no use for him, Crowley would have beaten the shit out of them. It hurt him a little to here his friend talk about himself that way.

“Sven, I’m sorry I said all those things tae ye. I wanted tae be honest with ye, and get ye tae leave VILE, but I didn’t mean tae be so harsh. Yer one of my best pals, and I know I hurt ye in the past, but that ain’t gonna happen again. I ain’t gonna let anyone hurt ye, especially not VILE.”

“You don’t need to be sorry; I needed to hear those things.” Replied Otter Man. “I’ve just been in denial and pretending I’m okay for years, and I should have stopped long ago. I need to get back to the apartment before Henrik realizes I’m gone, but we should talk with him in the morning.”

Crowley nodded. “See ye later.”

Dash was awoken in the middle of the night to a painful itching sensation. Still half asleep, he turned on his bedside lamp and realized he was now covered in swollen, red hives. All signs pointed to an allergic reaction, but he couldn’t pinpoint what exactly caused it.

He was always so careful with the fabric he ordered online and the stuff he sent Zack out to buy for him, taking care to make sure none of it contained even the slightest touch of acrylic, so it couldn’t be that. The area run had been there for months and hadn’t given him any issues, so that wasn’t it, either.

His gaze turned to the blanket Zack had grabbed for him that day after spilling milkshake on his other one. He found the tag of the blanket, and just as he had suspected, it was made of acrylic material.

“Zack!” He shouted. “Get in here!”

His shouts woke the entire team, and soon all four of them were standing at the door of his bedroom.

“Dash, its late. Why did you-“ Zack suddenly noticed the hives. “Holy shit, what the hell is wrong with your skin? We need to get you to a hospital right away!”

Ivy rolled her eyes. “He’s not dying, bro, he just broke out in hives. He’s probably having an allergic reaction to something. He’ll be fine once the hives go away.”

Dash shot a glare at Zack. “I remember telling you repeatedly that I was allergic to acrylic material, and yet you decided to give me a blanket made of the stuff after getting my other one dirty. This is all your fault, you know. You should have at least checked the tag before giving it to me.”

“Sorry, I wasn’t thinking. Are you going to be okay? Do you need an Epipen or something? I really don’t know what to do!”

Zack was freaking out a bit, but Dash seemed calm but fairly annoyed. It was clear this wasn’t his first time having an allergic reaction.

“I’m not dying, and I don’t need an Epipen. Just get me a damn Benadryl and I’ll be fine in a couple of hours. And hurry, these things itch like hell.”

“Dashiel, you know where we keep the Benadryl, you did not need to wake the entire house.” Said Shadow-San.

This only served to anger Dash further. “Oh, I’m sorry; I didn’t know you were the one who’s skin looked like braille right now. I’ll try to be more respective of other people when I’m not actively in pain because of Zack’s idiocy.”

Carmen yawned. “Hey, we need to leave for a caper in the morning, so we should all just go back to bed. Zack, deal with Dash since you’re going to be staying back with him anyways.”

Dash crossed his arms in annoyance. “I swear, you people will never stop treating me as anything more than a prisoner you stole from VILE. That’s it, I am completely done with all of you. This was Zack’s fault and yet you still blame it on me. Leave now!”

Shadow-San, Carmen, and Ivy left the room immediately, only Ivy bothering to tell Dash that she hoped he felt better, but Zack stayed behind. He felt really bad for causing this, and Dash had told him repeatedly that acrylic gave him a bad reaction, so he should have bothered to check the blankets tag before giving it to the brunette.

“Look, Dash, I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. Is there anything I can do for you?”

“Yes, you can get out.” Said Dash, motioning to the door. “I’m tired and itchy, and I don’t really want to deal with you right now. We’ll talk in the morning when I’m feeling better.”

“Do you want me to leave the bottle od Benadryl outside your door?”

He shook his head. “I’m going to take a bath to help with the hives, anyways, so I’ll grab it from the medicine cabinet while I’m in there. Just go back to bed and don’t bother me for the rest of the night.”

Zack shot Dash one more concerned glance, but figured it was best if he just left.

Magpie smiled when she spotted Chameleon and Card Trick across the little Swiss airport. She hadn’t seen her friends in months and hadn’t talked to them in at least six weeks. Ever since her employment with Roundabout began, she rarely saw any other operatives. Usually the ones she would encounter were the older operatives that learned how to blend in more and weren’t particularly conspicuous in appearance. Roundabout wouldn’t be seen with anyone that might seem suspicious or attract attention to plain, old Nigel Braithwaite.

When she had initially been selected for the position of his assistant, Magpie had been given a new identity. She was allowed to keep her first name-Roundabout figured that Margaret was common enough of a name that it wouldn’t be a problem, and thought it would be best to try not to overwhelm a young operative too much-but her last name had been changed to Russel, and her whole life basically revamped. She was no longer an orphan with little to her name, but the daughter of an upper-class couple, hoping to gain some experience for a future government job. Her entire wardrobe had been replaced with designer labels like Burberry, and she spent countless hours working with Countess Cleo to fix her accent and behaviors.

Magpie was certain that Roundabout’s real name wasn’t Nigel Braithwaite, but that was about all she knew about him. He was skilled at staying in character, and had worked his way up to his current government position-with a little help from VILE, who saw the benefits of having a man on the inside-under the guise of being the son of a diplomat. She had no idea who he truly was, only that he was not Nigel Braithwaite.

“So, long time no see.” She said to her friends after walking over to them. “Although I wish we were meeting under more pleasant circumstances.”

“This really has been a long time coming, though.” Replied Card Trick. “Brunt wanted Mathew to have brain surgery for a while now, since she thinks it will improve his quality of life and make him an even better operative, and Dr. Vess has been constantly pushing back, saying he is already far too busy, and still has more tests to run. The seizure only gave her reason to force his hand.”

Lonestar certainly had the intimidating build and physical strength to be an ideal operative (especially considering that he and Nighthawk were the only of their roommate group over 5’5”), but his personality was lacking. They didn’t know how he was before his brain injury, but they had always known him to be sweet, if a bit childish. This combined with some of the cognitive issues left behind from the injury, left somethings to be desired in the eyes of VILE.

Coach Brunt had quickly taken a shining to the young Texan, especially after the betrayal of Carmen Sandiego. They were all certain she was trying to use him as a replacement goldfish of sorts. She wanted Lonestar to be more cunning and decisive like Carmen Sandiego and would stop at nothing to make him the ideal operative in her eyes.

Chameleon just shrugged, shooting glances at the people around them. Like his namesake, the operative always seemed to want to blend in when out in public, and rarely spoke with this many people around. He was fine when he was surrounded by VILE operatives-like back in the mine-or with one or two other people around, but any more non-VILE people that he wasn’t familiar with, and his paranoid nature would once again rear its head.

Chameleon was by far the most mysterious member of their friend group. While everyone else had been fairly open about the events that led them to joining VILE, Chameleon was always fairly quiet about his past. The only information they were really able to get out of him was that his mother was dead, he had no idea if his father were alive or not, and he could never return to his home. They all had parts of their past that they wished they could forget, but Chameleon seemed to not want to acknowledge that he even actually existed before joining VILE.

“So, have you two gotten any more information about Mathew’s condition?” Asked Magpie. “Kaia called and told me about the seizure and that he would be going under the knife fairly soon, but I haven’t heard anything else about him since then.”

“I tried getting in contact with VILE’s medical staff, but the only one to actually pick up my call was Dr. Llyewlyn, and all he had to say was that it wasn’t his department, so he literally had no idea.” Replied Card Trick. “It was Kaia who informed us of what had happened as well, which I find a bit odd. I am certain that if she hadn’t been working at the hospital, we would not have found out about this until afterwards.”

VILE did its best to keep its operatives from becoming _distracted _while on assignments, so they had a bit of a track record of conveniently forgetting to inform operatives when their friends were sick or injured. VILE would have much preferred if none of the operatives actually cared about each other.

She nodded. “If I’m being completely honest, VILE is a shithole, but I don’t regret joining. My life was going nowhere, and if I hadn’t left England initially, I would have never met any of you.”

“If I had stayed in New Orleans, I would probably be dead by now.” Said Card Trick. “A few months before I joined, I was beaten into a coma thanks to one of my scams going wrong, and I’m not sure how much longer my body could have taken that type of abuse for. And I _may _have a certain drug dealer hunting for me after out relationship ended on a not so pleasant note.”

“Ditto.” Said Chameleon in agreement.”

As she spent more time with Neal, Blue Jay was starting to grow more fond of the Kiwi. At first, she had only agreed to go out with him to gain his trust, but she was actually beginning to enjoy his company. Once you got past his uncanny appearance, and odd stealth abilities, he was actually a pretty nice guy.

Neal like to spend most days at the beach. Blue Jay hadn’t initially been a fan of the seashore, but she found herself spending more and more days down there with him. She always found it odd how Neal never seemed to burn or tan, despite his pale skin and minimal sunscreen use. Blue Jay was far from pale (she took after her Korean mother in appearance, unlike her younger sister, who took after their fair skinned father), but she had gotten burned more than once, and was already starting to tan.

Despite Neal being nearly seven years older than her, the two operatives had a lot in common. Despite itching to get back to work, they both enjoyed the unexpected time they now had to relax. Blue Jay usually kept an extremely healthy diet but would indulge in a few cans of the cheap beer Neal brought to the beach. Between having devoted a good portion of her life to ballet, and joining VILE not long after, she’d never had much time to just live her life. The time between the two when she was involved in that underground fighting ring was probably the closest thing she’d had to a social life.

She had spent the day at the beach until midafternoon when it had starter to rain. Not wanting to get wet, they headed back to Neal’s apartment and ended up just watching TV together. About half an hour later, Neal had suddenly remembered that he’d left his cooler down at the beach and went to retrieve it, leaving Blue Jay alone in his apartment.

As she sat on the couch alone, waiting for Neal to return and honestly not too interested in the program they had been watching, she noticed the older operative’s communicator on the table suddenly start to ring. Blue Jay picked up the device and saw that the caller ID read _Data_.

Blue Jay knew this could have been an innocent call, sure, but she wasn’t going to take any chances. Data and Neal were friends, but Data also had ties to Crowley, and was most likely aware of his escape. If she were to tell Neal about anything that had happened, the consequences could be dire.

Blue Jay quickly pressed the reject call button, but Data immediately called back, and Blue Jay cancelled the call once more. Data made a few more attempts but gave up soon enough. Blue Jay placed Neal’s communicator back on the table where it had been, and back down like nothing had happened.

Seeing as Otter Man was on board with leaving VILE and siding with Carmen Sandiego, it wasn’t hard to convince Moose Boy. Being the brawn of the pair, Moose Boy usually relied on his boyfriend to make the logical decisions. He also knew that Crowley and Otter Man hadn’t exactly gotten along in the past, so if Otter Man stood by Crowley’s decision, it was probably the correct choice to make.

In Crowley’s mind, the next logical step would be to get their little friend group back together. Data was on board but had decided to still serve VILE for the time being, as they likely wouldn’t suspect her of being a double agent. Now the only one left to recruit was Neal, and Data said she would take care of that part.

Just as Crowley was heading out for lunch with Shawna, he suddenly received a call from Data. She didn’t even give him a chance to say hello before she started speaking.

_“We have a slight problem with your plan.” _She told him. _“Its Neal; he seems to be ignoring me. He keeps rejecting my calls. He never does that.”_

“Call him again.” He told her. “Leave a voice mail this time.”

_“I can’t leave a voice mail if the call was rejected, it doesn’t work that way. Maybe VILE has bugged his apartment, and even with me screwing up the communication system, he can’t do anything. Neal’s smart; he would notice a recording device and is probably doing this on purpose. I’ll have to find another way to contact him, but for now hold tight, and don’t try calling him yourself.”_

“Aye, I trust ye, Heidi.” He said before hanging up.

Data was one of the greatest, if not the best, hackers in VILE. If she said something was a technology issue, and that she would look into it herself, it was best to trust her, as many operatives learned the hard way. She wasn’t as commanding as the average VILE operative, and she could often come off as a bit meek, but she certainly made up for it with her intelligence.

If Neal wasn’t going to be involved, it was best to get the plan in motion as soon as possible, since there was nobody else to wait for. Crowley met Shawna by her car like he was planning originally, but now he was here to tell her that their plans were off.

“We’re gonna have tae do lunch some other time.” He told her. “Neal, ain’t pickin’ up, so we’re goin’ on without him, and I needty meet with Henrik and Sven.”

“I wanna help ye with this.” She replied. “Ye have always had my back, and I have always had yers. Ye’ll do much better with the Glasgow Rats behind ye.”

Crowley really didn’t want Shawna to get involved with VILE. A few years back, VILE had tried to get involved in the Glasgow drag trade and had instructed Crowley to infiltrate and destroy his old gang. Instead, he had stabbed and shot himself in locations he knew would be nonfatal and claimed Shawna did it. Shawna and the rest of the rats were strong, but he wasn’t so sure they’d be able to hold their own against VILE.

“Ye don’t know VILE.” He said simply. “The average operative is tougher than yer average crook. I don’t want ye or the Rats getting involved. We’re perfectly fine without ye, and would prefer if ye didn’t get involved.”

“I have practically unlimited resources. Most of yer money is still somehow attached to VILE and ye can’t use it. I’m a fookin’ drug lord, I have more cash than ye could ever need.”

She did have him there. Excluding his VILE account, Crowley had quite a few other bank accounts, but the only one he felt safe using was the one he was renting the apartment with. VILE could easily track the other accounts, seeing as he’d made transfers between them and his VILE account. The apartment account had only ever gotten cash deposits, so VILE had no way of knowing about it. Unfortunately, it only had about a quarter of a million in it, which might have seemed like a lot, but having seen the costs associated with some of the VILE heists, he knew he’d need more, especially since this wouldn’t be netting him any sort of profit.

He sighed, knowing he needed her help. “Fine, yer in, but take care. I’ll have ye help with getting’ Carmen Sandiego on our side first, since yer better with people. I’m meeting with Henrik and Sven tae talk about our plan now, so ye can come back tae my place, too.”

“Sound good.” Replied Shawna. “So, this Carmen Sandiego, ye said she’s a super thief. How do ye know where she lives?”

“I don’t.” He admitted. “But I do know where her friends live.”

Zack got up late that morning. Everyone else was gone already, but Dash was still in his room and presumably asleep. The blanket that had caused him an allergic reaction had been tossed out in the hall, so Zack took care of it so Dash wouldn’t have to touch it again. Dash’s regular blankets were washed and dried, so he’d return them to the brunette once he woke up.

Zack made raspberry pancakes for breakfast, as he knew they were Dash’s favorite. He hoped Dash wouldn’t be too mad at him, but from the way he normally reacted, that probably wasn’t going to happen. Dash could be a drama queen at times, but Zack felt the other man’s feelings were justified this time.

Dash woke up while Zack was in the middle of making breakfast. He walked into the kitchen but didn’t acknowledge the redhead.

“Good morning, Dash!” Greeted Zack. “I’m really sorry about last night, and I hope you’re still not too mad at me. I’m making raspberry pancakes for breakfast; I know they’re your favorite.”

Dash shot him a glare. “I’ll make my own breakfast, thank you very much.”

“I thought you didn’t know how to cook.”

Dash barely knew how to use an oven. He never had to cook for himself at any point in his life, so he never figured it out. But admitting this felt like letting Zack win, so he wasn’t going to give up.

“I’ll have cereal.” He said, opening the cabinet. “Where to do people even keep your bowls? This cabinet is just full of Tupperware and lids.”

“Bowls are in that cabinet.” He replied, pointing to the cabinet above the sink. “Cereal is in the pantry, spoons are in the drawer near the oven, and milk is in the fridge.”

Dash rolled his eyes. “I know where the milk is, just let me make my breakfast in peace.”

Zack was at a loss of what to do. He knew how Dash could be, but with how close they were getting, he really didn’t like the brunette being mad at him.

“Is there anything I can do to make you forgive me?”

Dash shook his head. “Nope, I would just like to be left alone. Maybe if you don’t annoy me, I’ll forgive you by this afternoon.”

“Well, what about this?” He asked, walking over to where Dash stood. He pulled the taller man down, so they were facing each other and pulled him into a kiss. “Did that work?”

Dash was blushing furiously. “Well, I guess it did.”

El Topo was getting more used to the new normal that was his life. Bobcat was gone, there was no bringing her back. He was finally starting to accept this fact and move forward with his life. He and Le Chevre had successfully escaped VILE, and thanks to Bobcat, they had a place to live, money to support themselves, and could finally have the life they always dreamed of together. Maybe in a few years they would even be ready to start a family.

It was hard thing to accept, but El Topo was finally ready to admit that Bobcat had gone into that fight ready to die, and there was nothing he could have done to stop that from happening. Bobcat was aware that she had become weaker with age, and would never be able to win against Crowley, so she had made sure El Topo and Le Chevre would be taken care off after she was gone.

Unlike El Topo, who was more than happy to adopt a gentle farm life, Le Chevre didn’t want to spend the rest of his life living off of Bobcat’s money and decided to start looking for a job. Unfortunately, his new identity lacked any sort of work experience, which made finding even an entry level job difficult. Bobcat had been a well-liked person, and had a lot of connections, but it was harder to use those connections now that she was gone.

El Topo supported his fiancé’s wanting to get a job but wasn’t worried about if he managed to get one or not. Le Chevre was often busy filling out job applications, or going to interviews, which left El Topo to deal with much of the housework and farm work, but he wasn’t bothered by that. If Le Chevre wanted to be out in the workforce, he didn’t mind taking the role of house husband.

Le Chevre was currently upstairs in Bobcat’s old study filling out another job application. While they hadn’t gotten around to dealing with Bobcat’s bedroom yet, they had cleaned out her study, moving or disposing of many of the things she kept in there in order to move on better with the loss. Le Chevre had taken over the study not long after, claiming it was easier to work in there.

While Le Chevre was busy upstairs, El Topo was currently dealing with the dishes. The farmhouse was old and hadn’t come with a dishwasher, and since Bobcat hadn’t seen the need for one after living there for so long alone, all the dishes had to be done by hand. Seeing as it was just the two of them living there right now, this wasn’t an issue so long as El Topo kept on top of things.

Just as he was finishing up the last plate, El Topo heard a knock at the door. This wasn’t unusual as Lily, one of the goats, had become quite the escape artist, and the neighbors were always bringing her back after finding her in their gardens. Now that early fall was upon them, and harvest season was starting, there was more for her to get into, and thus more reason to get out.

He placed the plate in the drying rack and walked over to open the front door. Instead of a slightly annoyed neighbor holding his misbehaving pygmy goat, he found Crowley, standing at the door. Behind him stood two operatives he recognized as Moose Boy and Otter Man, and a woman he had never seen before.

El Topo stared in shock, unable to speak or move. Had VILE suddenly decided that VILE wanted them back? And why would they send so many operatives, instead of just using The Cleaners?

Seeing that Le Topo wasn’t going to say anything, Crowley spoke up. “We ain’t here tae hurt ye. Just listen tae what we have tae say.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter took so long, I got sidetracked with other projects. I'll shoot for having the next one out in a few weeks, but school and work have both been busy. 
> 
> Dr. Vess belongs to Violetfic and is used with permission.
> 
> If you liked this chapter, please leave feedback, it makes me very happy.


	19. The High Road

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For once in his life, Crowley doesn't resort to violence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings for this chapter: Violence

El Topo had no idea how he was supposed to react to the situation. Crowley had killed Bobcat less than two months ago, and now he was standing at the doorway of where she once lived, saying he just wanted to talk. It was clear the fight with Bobcat had done some damage, as Crowley was covered in healing burn scars, and appeared to be limping.

El Topo found it extremely odd that the older man had actually showed up at their front door, as opposed to murdering or kidnapping them while they slept. More surprising was not only that he hadn’t come alone, but the crew he brought along with him. El Topo, alongside Le Chevre, had worked with Moose Boy and Otter Man before, and he was aware that they weren’t exactly the best VILE had to offer. Moose Boy was big and strong, but not the smartest guy in the world, and Otter Man was smart, but basically blind and not too strong. He didn’t know who the woman was, but assumed she was some VILE operative he just hadn’t met.

Not knowing how to react to the group outside his door, El Topo did the first thing his instincts told him to do. He screamed.

Hearing his partner’s panic scream, Le Chevre quickly tossed his work to the side, and ran downstairs to see what the problem was. Immediately spotting the enemies at his door, he allowed his instincts to take over, and attached whom he perceived to be the easiest target first. That person happened to be Otter Man. Thanks to his poor vison, and Le Chevre’s speed, the Swede had no time to counter before he was grabbed.

Moose Boy shot Le Chevre a look of pure rage, clearly wanting to tear him limb from limb for attacking his partner, but Crowley was the first to react, launching himself at Le Chevre as his anger took over, throwing blow after blow at the other man, even after his friend was no longer in danger. After being freed from Le Chevre’s grasp, Otter Man quickly hid behind Moose Boy, not wanting to get hit again. His nose was bleeding from when Le Chevre had hit him, but he didn’t seem to be too bothered by it.

“Knock that shite off!” The woman suddenly shouted. “Alistair, we ain’t here tae fight, we’re here tae talk. Ye need tae calm the fook down right now!”

VILE operatives usually didn’t call each other by their first names, so it was clear that this woman was friends with Crowley. El Topo assumed she was from his graduation year at the academy.

Her words fell on deaf ears, and Crowley still had his hands around Le Chevre’s throat. Le Chevre wasn’t taking this lying down, either, and had already landed a series of powerful strikes to the Scotsman’s abdomen and was preparing to launch a few more.

The woman turned to Moose Boy. “Henrik, give me a hand, will ye? This fookin’ dobber won’t unless we make him stop.”

Moose Boy gave her a nod, and they quickly stepped in to break up the fight. El Topo, who was no longer in shock from the sight before him, stepped in to assist, knowing Le Chevre wouldn’t stop even if Crowley did. Otter Man stood a few feet back, watching the fight, but not stepping in to help, knowing he was more likely to get himself hurt than actually give any assistance.

Eventually they managed to pull the two men apart, but they both looked ready to kill each other the second they were no longer being held back. Both men were bloody and bruised from the fight. Le Chevre had a black eye, and Crowley was bleeding from his lip, practically spitting blood at his opponent.

“What the fook was that?” Shouted Shawna. “Ye said we were here tae talk, not tae get violent. Ye can’t get people on yer side if ye attack them.”

“I lost my temper!” He protested. “He attacked Sven. Was I supposed tae sit there like an arse while he attacked my friend!”

“You had to expect that something like this was going to happen.” Grumbled Otter Man. “Why did I even agree to this in the first place? The whole plan is fucking stupid.”

Otter Man was not in a good mood. Ever since Crowley had returned, his anxiety level had significantly increased. The long car ride from the airport all the way to this little town in a shitty rental car hadn’t helped either. He’d taken Dramamine at the start of the trip to help deal with the motion sickness caused by his inability to process the vehicles movement properly due to his damaged eyesight, and despite sleeping most of the drive, he was still feeling tired and a bit nauseous.

Crowley’s expression softened a bit. “Sorry I had tae drag ye along, Sven, but yer better with people than me, and ye haven’t murdered anyone lately, which makes ye easier tae trust than me. If we could take down VILE without Carmen Sandiego, we would, but we need tae get her on our side if we even want tae have a chance.”

Shawna turned to El Topo and Le Chevre. “Guess we forgot tae tell ye why we’re here. I cannae attest tae how bad VILE really is, seein’ I was never a part of it, but Alistair’s my mate, and he wants the bastards gone. We know ye two escaped, and ye hate them too, so why not join us? We know ye have a connection to Carmen Sandiego, and that’s what we need tae make those fookers pay.”

Le Chevre narrowed his gaze. “This is a trick, I can tell. Crowley killed Bobcat, and I am certain he is back to take care of any witnesses of his crime.”

“I did kill Bobcat, but after learnin’ the truth, I regret it.” He admitted. “Seven years back VILE killed someone very close tae me. I was led tae believe that she died because Bobcat didn’t protect her, but I now know her death was planned. They thought she knew too much, so they decided she had tae die. I’ve been hatin’ the wrong person fer so long, and I didn’t learn until after I killed her. I can’t bring either of them back-Bobcat or the woman I loved-but I can at least make sure the right bastard pays, and that this never happens again.”

“We are aware of the evil within VILE, we were part of it, after all.” Growled Le Chevre. “We do not need to hear your lies about how you have changed. Leave.”

“Wait!” They all turned to El Topo who had decided to finally speak up. “I think we should hear them out. If they had come to kill us, we would already be dead.”

Le Chevre wasn’t too happy with the idea of letting the four of them inside, especially Crowley and Shawna. They could take on Moose Boy and Otter Man if need be, but Crowley was a wildcard of destruction, and he had no idea what Shawna was capable of, as while he knew she lacked any VILE training, if Crowley had decided to bring her along, she must be strong or well-armed.

He did, however, realize that El Topo was probably correct in his assumption. Crowley’s M.O. was never to get people to trust him before murdering them; he preferred to get the job done quick and with as little effort as possible. If he had wanted to kill them, he wouldn’t be standing at the front door, pleading his case.

“You may come on, but do not try anything.” He told them. “I want all of your weapons before I allow you to come inside.”

Crowley gave a slight smile. “I was just about tae ask about that. We’ll take off our jackets and shoes, and turn our pockets inside out, too. Ye always need tae check the pockets, shoes, and coats, all bloody good places tae hide a knife or a wee gun.”

Le Chevre honestly didn’t think of checking their coats or shoes, but it seemed like something he should do. VILE didn’t exactly teach their operatives how to do strip searches, but Crowley seemed experienced enough in hiding his weapons to know where to check. Le Chevre thought about making Crowley take off his pants, too, as he seemed really good at hiding thing on his person, but quickly decided that those tight pants couldn’t possibly be hiding anything.

Otter Man handed over a small knife and a pistol. Moose Boy had two knives and a set of brass knuckles. Shawna gave him two pistols, a switchblade, a cannister of teargas, a set of brass knuckles, and her chain whip.

Crowley was taking a lot longer to disarm himself than his companions, and every time it looked like he was done, he passed yet another weapon over to Le Chevre. When he was finally done, he had handed over three guns, five knives, two cannisters of teargas, a grenade, six bottles of some kind of accelerant, two sets of brass knuckles, and a homemade flamethrower. He gave them most of his lighters and matches, too, but insisted on keeping one along with his pack of cigarettes. Everyone, including Shawna, was surprised by the sheer number of things he had on his person.

“That should be all of it.” He told them, motioning to pile. “So, are ye gonna let us in now or what?”

The kiss had been a long time coming. It was clear that Dash and Zack had feelings for each other, but it had taken a while for Zack to feel confident that Dash was emotionally healthy enough for a relationship, and he wasn’t taking advantage of the former VILE operative’s emotional state. He had no idea why he decided to kiss Dash, but he knew the other man truly felt the same way he did.

The kiss had seemed to all but calm Dash’s sour mood, and he ate the pancakes Zack had made him without complaint. He actually didn’t seem too mad about the incident the night before anymore. Of course, the kiss left a lot of unanswered questions. What were they? Did this mean they were dating now? Zack had only dated one person before, so he wasn’t really sure.

“Dash, I think we need to talk.” He said, just as they were finishing up their breakfast.

Dash nearly choked on his last bite of pancake. “Oh great, what is it now?”

“Why do you sound so worried? I just said that we needed to talk. I haven’t even said what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“When people say that they need to talk, it always means that they’re about to give some bad news.” Explained Dash. “Will you just get it over with and tell me what the problem is?”

“I literally have nothing bad to tell you, if that is what you were expecting.” Replied Zack. “I want to talk about our relationship, but before you get upset, this isn’t in any way a bad conversation. I like you, and I know you like me, but what are we? I haven’t actually dated too many people before, so I’m honestly not too familiar with this type of thing.”

Dash seemed to relax a bit. “I mean, if you want to start dating, I’m definitely open to the idea. Of course, we can’t really go out anywhere because of my whole situation with VILE, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be together.”

“So, you’ll be my boyfriend?”

Dash smiled. “Of course, you wonderful idiot. I really do like you.”

Dr. Llyewlyn was not having a good week. He had far too many scheduled appointments as it was, and his free time had more than once been interrupted by an operative coming in for a dental emergency that had to be taken care of immediately. Crowley’s escape had put a lot of stress on everyone, as it was something that could have been prevented and was now a very real threat. Of course, none of them had expected the operative to try to escape, or that he would even be well enough to attempt such a feat after just a month. Dr. Vess had been extremely short tempered with his subordinates lately due to the stress, and even though everyone was actually doing their best to stay out of trouble for once, he always seemed to find some reason to be angry. On top on everything that was already going on, a water pipe had burst in Dr. Llyewlyn’s and ruined not only most of his works in progress, but half his painting supplies, too.

During his lunch break, while he was trying to finish up some patient paperwork that he hadn’t had time to do earlier, Dr. Llyewlyn suddenly heard a knock at his office door.

“Come on it!” He shouted. “It’s unlocked.”

Dr. Llyewlyn audibly sighed when Dr. Vess walked in, as the younger man wasn’t the type to just come in to say hello. Of course, the fact that the doctor had knocked instead of simply walking in unannounced at least meant Dr. Llyewlyn probably wasn’t in trouble.

“Good afternoon, doctor, is there something you need?” He asked. “I have been trying my best to keep Undertaker and Bloatfly from fighting, but I apologize if the stress has gotten to them and they caused an issue for you.”

“The girls have actually been better behaved than I think I have ever seen them.” Replied Dr. Vess. “I’m not here about them actually, I’m here because I remembered that your two-week vacation is coming up.”

Because he didn’t have much of a life outside of work, Dr. Llyewlyn only took personal time once a year. Bloatfly and Undertaker had always been fine to take care of things while he was gone (he would only schedule simple cleanings during that time, something they regularly did on their own), and if something did happen, or Vampire Bat got tired of keeping the peace, he would come back if need be. Of course, there had never been any sort of issue while he was gone, and he always got to enjoy his two weeks in peace.

The fact that Vess had even brought up his vacation in the first place concerned the dentist. He always took the same two weeks off every year, for even longer than Vess had been with VILE (Hell, he’d been taking them off since he first joined VILE in 86’, meaning he’d been taking them off since before the doctor was even born), and everybody knew it. Normally, Vess didn’t even mention it, as he knew Dr. Llyewlyn was able to have all his bases covered while he was gone. The fact that the doctor had even brought it up in the first place meant he had some sort of issue with it.

“Oh yes, I almost forgot that with everything that has been going on. After all this stress it will be simply wonderful to return to my native Wales for some relaxation.” Replied Dr. Llyewlyn, trying to avoid letting on the fact that he knew something was up. “I’ve already mapped out the places I would like to visit and paint, providing the weather isn’t too bad. If I have time, I may even catch a flight to Scotland and visit the new headquarters. I would love to see how they have set it up and maybe talk with the Head Faculty about moving me and the girls into the castle and away from this dreadful hospital.”

“The thing about that is, with everything that is going on with VILE, Dr. Bellum and I have come to the conclusion that it would be best if you did not take your vacation this year.” Said Vess. “Not only do we feel you going off on your own would be a huge security threat to VILE and yourself, but we feel that with how busy everything is, it would be beneficial to the organization if we used this time to have you help us catch up on some research and paperwork, things we would only trust those with a certain level of seniority within the organization to do.

“As compensation for this, the Head Faculty has decided to give you two days off now-to spend either on the hospital grounds or in a local, pre-approved town-and will give you an additional two week vacation in addition to your annual one, providing the time you choose fits with VILE’s schedule. I hope you understand that this is what’s best for the organization and we’re all making sacrifices right now.”

Dr. Llyewlyn knew he would never be getting those two extra weeks of vacation next year (providing he got his annual time off then, either), but he knew better than to say anything. It wasn’t like he could see himself taking those extra weeks, anyways; he had nowhere he ever wanted to go besides Wales, and only ever in the autumn.

“That is disappointing, but I understand.” He said simply. “I assume my two days off will be what would have been the first two days of my vacation. In that case, I will be spending the first day doing some shopping in the nearest town-I will need a guard to drive me or permission to use a vehicle-and the second on the hospital grounds.”

Dr. Vess seemed satisfied with his answer. “I will have that arranged. I knew you wouldn’t fight me; you never were the argumentative type.”

Without another word, the surgeon walked out. Dr. Llyewlyn didn’t let it show, but he was absolutely fuming.

Dr. Llyewlyn finished his last dental surgery after lunch and decided to take the rest of the day off. He had a few appointments left, but it wasn’t anything Bloatfly and Undertaker could deal with on their own; just a few cleanings. The girls did not question why he wanted to take the rest of the day off, and he didn’t tell them. Dr. Llyewlyn trusted them to work together without fighting for the rest of the afternoon. He was the one person they were actually willing to put their differences aside for.

When he got back to their shared apartment, Vampire Bat was sitting at the kitchen table, clearly having just gotten up. The blood technician preferred to work at late shift, starting her job in the late afternoon and finishing up in the wee hours of the morning, so it wasn’t odd to see her like this.

“Hello, Gwil.” She greeted. “I don’t normally see you home at this time. What happened? Did you get assaulted by another patient?”

Although he always had at least one guard in the room during most of his appointments (Some patients he trusted to be calm enough to not be any sort of threat, and others that he considered to be enough of a threat to warrant more than one guard), he still got attacked from time to time, usually because the guard wasn’t paying attention or the patient was too fast. If he wasn’t too hurt, he would work the rest of the day, otherwise he would be sent back to the apartment to recover. Bloatfly had gotten attacked before, too, but nobody ever tried anything with Undertaker.

“Not this time.” He told her. “The short of it is that I will not be getting my yearly vacation this time around. It has been deemed a security risk for me to go off on my own right now, and Dr. Vess has decided it would be a better use of my time if I were to help him out with a few things instead. I was given two days, but I am not allowed to go far.”

Vampire Bat scoffed. “At this point I think its less about what’s best for VILE, and about that psycho exercising his power over us to show that he’s in control of our lives. Does he think you have ties to Crowley’s escape or something? Because if he doesn’t, he really has no other believable reason to keep you here.”

“Considering he said he’d discussed the matter with Dr. Bellum, I don’t think this is some sort of weird powerplay, and actually believe that he is doing at least what he _thinks _is best for VILE. I realize that Dr. Vess is a bit damaged as a person, but my vacations were negotiated years ago, and I doubt he would have the power to go against the Head Faculty and cancel them simply as a display of his power over me.”

“Maybe I was wrong, Gwil.” Said Vampire Bat. “I don’t think Dr. Vess would bother trying to manipulate you when he’s already got you wrapped around his little finger.”

Dr. Llyewlyn shot her a glare. “You know I always try to treat you girls as equals, Jeong-Suk, but I’d like you to remember that you are technically my subordinate, and I would like you to treat me with some actual respect.”

Without another word, he headed for his room, closing the door behind him. Dr. Llyewlyn always tried to be calm and collected, but he was certain he’d punch the next person who bothered him.

Crowley had seen the outside of Bobcat’s house before, but for obvious reasons, this was his first time being inside. He wasn’t sure exactly what he had been expecting, but it wasn’t this. The place just looked so normal with its mismatched living room set, the framed paintings and photographs of animals adorning the walls, and the general homey feeling of the place. He assumed El Topo and Le Chevre had gotten rid of some of Bobcat’s stuff, however, as it lacked the certain clutter he knew her for back at VILE, and with the exception of a large peyote plant in the corner that he assumed the two men had thought was just a normal houseplant, there was little left of Bobcat’s token hedonism.

Upon their entry, El Topo simply handed them a large first aid kit while he dealt with Le Chevre’s cuts and scrapes. Being the calmest of the four at the moment, Shawna took charge, first looking over Otter Man since she knew he would be easier to deal with. Otter Man’s nose was not broken, and besides that, he seemed to only have a few bruises from being knocked to the ground. He wasn’t bleeding anymore, so Shawna simply handed him an antiseptic wipe to clean the blood from his face and turned her attention to Crowley.

Crowley had a few cuts and bruises, but nothing Shawna wasn’t able to quickly patch up. He seemed more anxious to start talking than actually hurt, so she did her best to work quickly.

When everyone had been patched up, they were all seated in the living room with El Topo and Le Chevre on one couch, Moose Boy, Otter Man, and Shawna on the other, and Crowley sprawled across the armchair. The situation was a bit uncomfortable for everyone involved, and nobody spoke, they simply stared at each other. Finally, it was Crowley who broke the silence.

“Like I said, we’re here tae talk.” He told them. “I do not want this tae get violent, and we will stay peaceful as long as ye two do. I brought Shawna tae moderate because she is the closest thing tae a neutral party we have, and she has also participated in quite a few hostage exchanges.”

“Shawna, AKA the Rat Queen, leader of the Glasgow Rats and Alistair’s old friend.” She introduced herself. “Pleasure tae meet ye. Do ye two know Henrik and Sven? Although ye would probably know them better as Moose Boy and Otter Man.”

“I do not know them personally, but I know of them.” Replied Le Chevre. “They are two of VILE’s worst operatives, and I know one of you idiots is blind.”

Otter Man looked slightly offended by Le Chevre’s remarks, but wasn’t in the mood to reply, simply glaring at the other man from across the room.

El Topo gave his fiancé a pat on the shoulder. “Be nice, Jean. I don’t want you to get in another fight today. We will let them speak, and we will figure out what we are going to do after that.”

Crowley gave El Topo a nod and continued talking. “First off, I apologize fer takin’ Bobcat’s life. I never really got over the loss of my angel, but I know that ain’t a good excuse fer what I did. I know Bobcat wasn’t exactly a good person, but she was so much fookin’ better of a person than me. I knew her fer three years, and she actually treated us younger operatives as family.

“About seven years back, Bobcat was sent out on an assignment with my angel and three other operatives. Apparently on the assignment, Bobcat was attacked by the three other operatives, and my angel did not survive, I blamed Bobcat fer not protecting my angel fer so long. I was happy the first time we thought she had died, but when I found out she was still alive, I wanted my revenge. I couldn’t think about anything besides killin’ her one-on-one.

“After I killed her, my old pal Heidi found out the truth. They though my Devon knew somethin’ about a project that involved poisonin’ and killin’ a farm community fer VILE’s benefit. The other operatives on that assignment were suspected traitors, the idea was for them tae think they could overpower Bobcat only tae have her kill them all in self-defense. I was trick into killin’ Bobcat because she was a liability, not because she hurt my angel.

“VILE has killed not only thousands on innocent people, but their own fookin’ operatives. They ruined all our fookin’ lives. I’m gonna take my revenge once again, but this time I’m gonna kill the right people. I need ye two tae join me, not only because ye also have VILE trainin’ but because or yer connection to Carmen Sandiego. She’s the only one to ever make real progress against VILE, and we won’t be gettin’ anywhere without her.”

Despite the fact that Crowley had basically poured his heart and soul out to them, Le Chevre was not convinced. “And how can we trust that any of this is true? You have no proof, and this is not something we will be taking your word for.”

“Who said I had no proof?” He asked, pulling a flash drive from his pocket. “Heidi ripped these docs of their metadata pretty well, so VILE has no idea she even made copies. Heidi said ye contacted her about yer missin’ boyfriend, so I don’t think ye doubt her abilities.”

“We will look at the documents on the computer together, but I will need to talk to Data first.” Said Le Chevre. “I trust her more than I trust you, even if she still is working with VILE, and I will only look at the files after she confirms your story. Antonio, stay in the living room with the others, and do not let them go anywhere. I do not worry about them harming you as much as a worry about Crowley.”

After Le Chevre and Crowley headed upstairs where the laptop currently was, the living room suddenly grew silent. Feeling how awkward the mood was, after a few minutes Shawna decided to break the silence.

“This is a real nice place ye got here. I’ve lived in the city all of my life and haven’t seen too many farms before.”

“When I was young, I lived near a reindeer farm.” Said Moose Boy. “I do not think you guys can have reindeer up here, though, since they would get too hot. Sven, did they have any farm animals when you worked at that zoo?”

Otter Man shrugged. “I don’t know, probably. I’ve told you before that I only really worked with the marine animals, so I don’t remember a lot of the other animals they had, especially since it’s been so long.”

“So, you were a zookeeper before you joined VILE?” Asked El Topo, trying to make some kind of contribution to the conversation. “That must have been an interesting job.”

“Actually, I was a grad student.” Said Otter Man. “I graduated early and at the top of my class, so I got into this very exclusive graduate program that allowed me to work at the zoo and get paid while working on my marine zoology degree. I was very close to graduating when VILE came in and fucked up my life, and I can’t go back and try to finish my degree since my eyes are ruined.”

El Topo really hadn’t had anything going for him before he joined VILE. He had been kicked out by his parents and was stealing to make ends meet. But still, he wondered what his life would have been like if he had never joined the organization. VILE hadn’t exactly ruined his life and he would have never met Le Chevre if he hadn’t joined, but would he have been happier now if he had stayed where he was?

“I’ve never been a part of VILE, but even I know how fooked up it is.” Said Shawna. “And I’m a bloody drug lord. What Crowley is tryin’ tae say is that ye all left VILE because ye realized how bad it is. Do ye really want tae let VILE ruin more lives? Out two groups cannae take down VILE on our own, but if we work together, we might actually stand a chance.”

Before the conversation could go any further Le Chevre and Crowley walked back downstairs. They did not look angry with each other, and they showed no signs of another scuffle, but they also didn’t appear to have come to any sort of agreement.

“Ye have my number, ye can call me at any time of day.” Said Crowley. “We’ll be staying in town fer five days, so ye got until then tae make yer decision. If there’s nothin’ else ye need from us right now, I’m gonna take my crew back tae the motel since we’re all tired from travelin’ today.”

“You promise you will leave Antonio and I alone until we decide to contact you first?” Asked Le Chevre.

“Scouts honor.” He replied, before turning to his group. “Alright, lets get some rest and some dinner. Shawna, would you order us some food fer delivery tae the motel?”

Shawna already had her phone out and was searching for a nearby restaurant. “I hope ye like pizza, that’s the only thing that’s delivery around here.”

Once the other four had left, and they were finally alone again, El Topo turned to Le Chevre.

“What did the two of you talk about, _mi amor_?” He asked. “Did he have the proof?”

“The documents looked very convincing, and Data even backed him up on the legitimacy of them, but I still do not trust him.” Replied Le Chevre. “He told me that Shadow-San will be able to confirm that he is telling the truth. We will contact him later and see if Crowley is telling the truth, but for now we should keep our guard up.”

Magpie talked with her girlfriend almost every night on the phone, but it had been quite a while since she had seen Nighthawk in person. They used to do a lot of assignments together right after they had graduated, Nighthawk acting as the brawn of the duo with her impressive strength and piloting skills, and Magpie being the brains thanks to her intelligence and charm. But as time when on, they seemed to work together less and less.

At first Magpie had thought this had something to do with the Head Faculty figuring out that they were in a relationship. Romantic relationships between VILE operatives were expressly forbidden due to possibly being a conflict of interest. Eventually, however, it dawned on her that other duos who had been with VILE much longer, and quite obviously in romantic relationships, were not separated so long as they made a decent attempt at hiding their relationships, so that wasn’t it. Her current theory was that VILE simply figured they’d be better utilized separately than as a pair.

“How is Mathew?” Was the first thing she asked Nighthawk. “I know he had a seizure and needs brain surgery, but that’s all you told me, and frankly I don’t think VILE was planning on telling any of us about this.”

“He’s doing alright.” She told her. “He hasn’t had another seizure and doesn’t seem to be suffering any ill effects of it, but Dr. Vess has him on bedrest just in case, so he’s a bit bored. I try to see him when I can, but with Gator gone, I just don’t have as much free time. How was everyone’s trip up here?”

“Very quick.” Replied Magpie. “The flight from London was only a few hours, and VILE didn’t even contact me after I went and bought a first-class ticket. Working for Roundabout can be exhausting and boring at times, but it certainly has its perks.”

“I was still in Vermont when I heard the news, so I had no trouble getting a flight.” Responded Card Trick. “I booked an economy seat since that’s about all VILE will cover without me having to pay for the upgrade.”

“Not too bad.” Said Chameleon. “Though I did have to rush my last assignment a bit to get here, so now there are some Russian scientists believing a poltergeist destroyed their computers. How did you guys even get VILE to pay for your plane tickets? I found the cheapest flight available and VILE _still _rejected it, I had to pay out of pocket unless I wanted to go directly home. I swear Booker hates me, but I can’t figure out why. I’ve never done anything to her, and yet she’s always been an extreme tight ass towards me.”

Magpie shrugged. “You probably just had too many expenses when you first graduated and she doesn’t want it to happen again, you need to stop thinking everyone’s out to get you. Come on, I can’t stay more than a few days, and I would like to see Matthew sooner than later.”

“Fair warning before you go inside, but tensions are extremely high right now.” Warned Nighthawk. “Everyone’s been on edge since the incident, so even a lot of the more pleasant staff has been a bit snappy lately. As for Dr. Vess, well I would avoid him completely if possible. I’ll take you to Matthew’s room, but don’t give anyone a reason to get angry with you.”

The atmosphere of the hospital was never the most pleasant, but now everything seemed so much colder. The security presence was much higher than any of them could remember, and all the staff was practically silent. Normally, there would be nurses chatting or doctors at least greeting each other as they passed by, but now there was none of that. The staff members would acknowledge each other’s presence with a glance, but it was clear they were doing their best not to even step slightly out of line. Operatives were normally allowed to walk freely through most parts of the hospital, but now the place was on lockdown and anyone who was not a member of the staff could not go anywhere without an escort.

“What happened here?” Asked Card Trick, looking around. “Even prisons are usually warmer and more inviting than this.”

“Like I said, there was an incident.” Replied Nighthawk. “Mags knows about it since she works for Roundabout, but VILE has decided to keep what happened as classified information right now, so neither of us can tell you. All I can tell you is that Dr. Bellum wasn’t happy with how things played out.

“I can tell you that Matthew had his seizure during the lockdown, and Dr. Vess thinks the combination of being in a relatively unfamiliar place along with the sudden change of what was happening may have been what triggered it. He hit his head and had to get stitches, but thankfully no concussion.”

“On our first assignment, Matthew blacked out in the helicopter.” Said Magpie. “I remember he looked a little off that day, so I made sure I was the last one to jump. Now that I think about it, that could have also been a seizure, but I didn’t know it at the time. I’m pleasantly surprised that they decided to keep him around despite his brain injury, as I know they’ve gotten rid of operatives for having less serious conditions.”

“I figured that the other operatives were let go because they developed their conditions after graduation or kept them hidden until then. Matthew was pretty transparent about his brain injury, so they knew what they were getting into.” Replied Chameleon. “Besides, not only has he proved himself to be a good operative despite his limitations, but Coach Brunt absolutely adores him and would never let anything happen to him.”

Coach Brunt had quickly taken a liking to Lonestar when he’d first arrived at VILE academy and had become even closer to him after Carmen Sandiego betrayed her. It was clear that she was trying to use him as a sort of replacement, but nobody really called her out on it, and Card Trick wasn’t even sure if Lonestar knew what was going on with Brunt. Their friend group had decided to let it be, not only because they didn’t want to get on Brunt’s bad side, but because they all figured the relationship was beneficial to Lonestar at best, and completely harmless at worse.

“His room is right up ahead.” Said Nighthawk. “Room 325, on the left.”

Lonestar was sitting in a hospital bed, it was clear he didn’t want to be there. He was hooked up to a monitor, but didn’t seem to be in any pain, and simply looked bored as he flipped through channels on the staticky TV. Since he was originally only supposed to be there for a few days, he hadn’t brought much to keep himself entertained. When he saw his friends, however, he perked right up.

“Leo, Maggie, Damian, I’m so happy to see you guys!” He all but yelled. “Kaia, I’m happy to see you, too, but I see you every day.”

“We all would have been here slightly sooner, but I had to finish my assignment, and Maggie had to get time off from Roundabout.” Said Chameleon. “Kaia has been keeping us updated on how things have been going for you.”

“We brought some of your things.” Added Card Trick. “Just some books and stuff, but we figured you were getting bored here and might need something to take your mind off things.”

Card Trick and Chameleon had been living in Vermont in a rented house in a rural area paid for by their VILE earnings when they weren’t working or otherwise off somewhere else. After the island was initially destroyed, all operatives still living there were given the option to either live in random VILE safehouses or find their own accommodations. With the exception of some of the newer operatives, pretty much everyone chose to find their own place. After the new base was prepared, some of the operatives decided to move in, but most chose to stick with their current accommodations.

“Sorry I haven’t really been able to see you, or even call you.” Said Magpie. “I’ve just been so busy recently, and there’s a lot of behind the scenes stuff going on with VILE right now that I can’t tell you about. Roundabout almost didn’t give me time off to see you.”

“That’s okay.” He told her. “I know you guys all have things you need to get done. So, how long are you staying for?”

“Leo and Damien are here for the whole week, but I’m afraid I can only stay two days.” Replied Magpie. “I was originally supposed to get the whole week off, which meant I could stay for five full days and two partial ones, but things are hectic.”

“Oh, that’s fine. I just really wanted to see you before my surgery, even for just a little while.”

Magpie felt a little guilty that she wouldn’t be able to spend more time with Lonestar before his surgery. She knew how complex brain surgery could be, and there was so much that could go wrong, but she couldn’t exactly tell Roundabout that she was extending her leave of absence without his permission. She did worry that something would go terribly wrong and she’d be spending the time working instead of with Lonestar.

They spent the next few hours in Lonestar’s hospital room, just catching up on what was going on in each other’s lives. Magpie really wanted to spend some time alone with Nighthawk but didn’t say anything. She was here to see a friend before he went into a very invasive surgery, not to spend time with her girlfriend.

As they were talking, Dr. Vess suddenly walked in to take Lonestar’s vitals. Seeing as Magpie was in his way where she stood, and he honestly wasn’t in the mood to deal with her, so he simply shoved her out of the way instead of asking her to move.

“Hey!” She shouted in surprise. “What the bloody hell is your problem?”

“I am a very busy man, and you were in my way.” He told her coldly. “I don’t know why you four were allowed to come here in the first place, but you are not only a major security threat, but an inconvenience to myself and the rest of the hospital staff.”

Nighthawk suddenly grabbed the doctor and shoved him to the wall. They were about the same height, but she was stronger and much more muscular than he was and had a lot more fighting experience and training.

“I know who you are, and I know what is going on within your life right now, but that gives you no right to do what you just did.” She growled. “If you ever lay a hand on her again, I will do something that will no doubt get me killed by the Head Faculty.”

“I could have you demoted or disposed of for your insolence.” He snapped when he was released but didn’t say anything else before going back to checking Lonestar’s vitals are leaving.

After Vess was gone, Magpie turned to her girlfriend. “Kaia, did you really just do that? You are aware of the consequences of even threatening someone VILE sees as that important?”

Nighthawk shrugged. “He won’t do anything. He’s afraid of what will happen if Crowley comes back, especially with Gator gone; he knows he needs me.”

The rest of their team would be home any minute, and Zack couldn’t wait to tell them the good news. Ivy used to joke that he’s be single forever (she’d dated two different girls and hooked up with at least three during the time in San Diego), and now he would finally be able to prove her wrong.

It was getting late, already almost ten in the evening, and Dash had started getting ready for bed, but considering how long it took him in both the morning and the evening, Zack wasn’t worried about him actually going to bed before the others got home.

Finally, around a quarter after ten, Carmen, Ivy, and Shadow-San showed up. All three looked exhausted and ready for bed, but from their expressions, it was clear they had bested VILE once again.

“Hey bro, we kick ass out there today.” She told Zack, before turning to Dash who happened to be sitting on the couch next to him. “Hey Dash, you’re looking a lot better than you did last night. Your skins not as red as it was, and you don’t look as itchy. So, anything exciting happen while we were gone?”

“Actually, yes.” Replied Zack. “Dash and I have something we want to tell you about.”

Carmen yawned. “Whatever it is, can it wait until morning? Spinkick basically has unlimited energy when you’re chasing him down, and Flytrap got me a few times with her bolas, so I’m completely exhausted right now, and just want to go to bed.”

“No, it cannot wait for tomorrow.” Said Dash, shooting her a glare. “Even if you do treat me like nothing more than a burden, I won’t have you ignoring Zack like that. Just sit down for a few minutes and let us speak.”

Amazingly, the three of them sat down on the other couch without argument. After years of working for Countess Cleo, Dash wasn’t always the best at voicing his personal wants and needs, so when he decided to speak up, they decided it would be best to listen.

“So, the big news is, Dash and I are now dating!” Said Zack. “Only since this morning, but we’re officially a couple!”

Ivy slammed her fists down on the coffee table in excitement. “Called it!”

Carmen and Shadow-San seemed a little less enthusiastic about the whole thing, likely because of how tired they were.

“If that is all, I will be heading to bed now.” Said Shadow-San. “If you would like to discuss your new relationship further, it will have to happen in the morning.”

“Oh yeah, before I forget, Antonio and Jean-Paul called.” Zack told him. “They said they wanted to speak with Shadow-San as soon as you guys get back.”

“It is a little late for that.” Replied Shadow-San, ready to head to his bedroom for the night. “They have probably already gone to bed at this point, as they are an hour ahead of us due to the time zones.”

“They said it was very important and they were going to stay up and wait for your call, so you should probably call them tonight.”

Shadow-San sighed. “Fine, I will call them right now.”

He headed into the kitchen where the landline was, shutting the door behind him. The rest of the group waited patiently for him to be done. They all were wondering what was so important that El Topo and Le Chevre wouldn’t wait until morning, but they knew Shadow-San would catch them if they attempted to eavesdrop. Finally, after about twenty minutes, he came back.

“Crowley is back.” He informed them. “This time he apparently just wants to talk.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dr. Vess belongs to Violetfic
> 
> Thanks for reading, and if you enjoyed, please leave some feedback as I really like to hear what people think of my work. I'll try to have the next chapter out within two weeks, but can't make any promises.


	20. The Ties that Bind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crowley talks to Bobcat one last time. Magpie learns something that should have probably stayed buried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter took so long, school's been kicking my ass. This chapter turned out a little darker than expected.
> 
> Trigger warnings for this one: mentions of prostitution, mentions of sexual abuse, mentions of drugs, child abandonment.

It was getting close to midnight in Colorado, but thanks to the collective jet lag, nobody could sleep. Shawna, Moose Boy, and Otter Man were also so set in Glasgow time, that according to their bodies, it was early in the morning. Shawna would pull a lot more late nights when she was younger, but nowadays it was a rarity for her to stay up past one or two in the morning, so falling asleep now was out of the question.

As for Crowley, although he was basically immune to jet lag due to his constant travel, and could basically fall asleep anytime and anywhere, even he was up with no chance of falling asleep any time soon. He was too hyped up about the entire situation to sleep and was still paranoid about VILE tracking him down. Of course, the large quantity of coffee he’d consumed over the last few hours wasn’t helping, either.

Otter Man looked up from the book he was reading. “Oh, would you _please _quit pacing? It’s not going to make any of this happen faster, and it’s getting on my nerves.”

“_Ja_!” Agreed Moose Boy, who was laying on the bed next to him. “If you tire yourself out, and we need to fight later, things are going to turn out badly.”

For the sake of safety, they had decided to rent one room with two beds. Shawna could have certainly paid for a second room, or even a third if she and Crowley hadn’t wanted to share, but Crowley felt much safer with everyone in one room together. He knew he was the most confident fighter of the group, and if anyone came in wanting to harm his friends, he wanted to be available to defend them.

Crowley hadn’t actually realized he was pacing until Otter Man mentioned it. He had been so lost in his own thoughts about everything that was going on, that he hadn’t been aware of when he’s started moving around.

“Sorry, mate, spaced out a little there.” He apologized. “I’ve been doin’ a lot of thinkin’, and all the caffeine ain’t helpin’ me sit still, either.”

Shawna was too busy with a video call on her laptop to care about what was going on around her. As far as anyone could tell, she was currently doing her best to deal with her duties as the leader of one of Scotland’s most ruthless gangs with being away. She had her headphones in, so they couldn’t hear what was going on, on the other line, but they could hear whenever she said something. Some of the highlights were, “I don’t fookin’ care if he’s 78, he fookin’ double crossed us,” and “Bitches get stiches.”

“Even if the other defectors decide that they want join us, I’m assuming they would wait until morning to contact us.” Said Otter Man. “Instead of getting all worked up about this, you should try and get some rest. If you’re tired and stressed out, you’re more prone to snap.”

While Crowley had calmed down a bit in recent years and didn’t have as much of a hair trigger temper as he used to, he did have a history of violent outbursts, especially during his time with VILE. On one particular incident, when he was just a student, he managed to injure three seasoned operatives in a fit of rage. It was clear a lot of people were afraid of him after that first incident, but VILE kept him around since it was better to have someone like that fighting on their side.

“I only freaked out today because ye were in danger.” He told him. “And I told them tae call me anytime day or night, so it wouldn’t be unreasonable fer them tae call me this late.”

“Normal, not jet lagged people are usually asleep at this hour. Besides, they’d probably think it would be rude to call at this time of night, even if you told them it was okay.”

Suddenly, Crowley’s communicator began to ring from the bedside table. He didn’t recognize the number, or even the area code, but he figured it was just El Topo and Le Chevre calling him back, as he’d neglected to get their number.

He shot Otter Man a smirk before picking up the phone. “This is Crowley, what do ye need?”

The person who had called was not El Topo or Le Chevre, their voice was much to feminine. _“Crowley, I by no means trust you, but Shadow-San said you visited Antonio and Jean-Paul today along with some other VILE operatives and have apparently left VILE. We know what you did, but since this is way off from your normal MO, Shadow-San and I think it would be best to at least try and hear you out, so long as you don’t try anything.”_

“Ye Carmen Sandiego?” He asked. “That wee lassie who used tae be runnin’ around the island before ye grew up and went rogue? Ye remember me? Alistair, class of 2010?”

So many students had gone through VILE academy during Carmen’s childhood, that she honestly didn’t remember a lot of them. She’d never had much interaction with Crowley, other than being told by Coach Brunt that he was dangerous, and she should avoid him.

_“Not really, but I don’t actually remember a lot of operatives from when I was little.” _She admitted. _“But this isn’t about that. I was told you wanted to make up for what you did to Bobcat and your other victims from your time with VILE, and I think we should all talk about this. Maybe we should have a video conference, your team, my team, and El Topo and Le Chevre.”_

Crowley’s motives were less about trying to make things right and more about taking revenge on those who truly wronged him, but he figured it was better if he didn’t try and explain that to Carmen, as he didn’t want to give her a reason to change her mind about working with him.

“Alright, lets do it right now!” He exclaimed. “I know yer a busy person, so I don’t know when you’ll next be free, and I can’t take waitin’!”

_“Crowley, you do realize that its almost midnight where you are? There’s no way Antonio and Jean-Paul are going to want to do a video call at this hour. Besides, I’m exhausted from my day as well. I’ll call you back in the morning, goodbye.”_

Before Carmen hung up the phone, Crowley heard two people in the background arguing to her about how she should take the video call right now. Their reasoning was that Crowley was a known murderer, and he was close enough to go over and kill El Topo and Le Chevre if he wanted to, so it was probably best to do what he wanted. knowing what he knew now, Crowley would never kill El Topo and Le Chevre, but whatever got him leverage in the situation was fine with him.

A few seconds into the arguing, Carmen came back on the line. _“Alright, we’ll do your video call, but it has to be quick, and no funny business. My computer guy will be on the call, too, just in case you try to pinpoint our location during the call.”_

“Never been good with computers, so hackin’ ye isn’t somethin’ I’d be able tae do.” He told her. “Just give me a sec tae regroup, and then I’ll start the call.”

Zack was a bit worried about Carmen getting so close with a murderer and had wanted to be on the video chat call with her and Shadow-San, but he and Ivy had been shoved out of the room just as they were preparing to take the video call. Ivy took this as her cue to head to bed and was now stood outside the bathroom door, waiting for Dash to finish so she could brush her teeth.

“Hey, bro, can you tell your boyfriend to hurry up in there?” She shouted to Zack. “I just wanna go to bed, and he’s taking too long.”

“Be patient, I’ll be out in a second!” Yelled Dash from the bathroom. “Some of us actually care about our skin, you know!”

Ivy rolled her eyes but didn’t say anything else. A couple of minutes later Dash walked out of the bathroom.

“I’m going to bed now.” He told them. “See you in the morning.”

“Oh, one more thing before you go to bed.” Said Zack. “Since we’re a couple now, how about we have our first date tomorrow.

Dash was skeptical. “Would you mind telling how _that _is supposed to work. Have you forgotten that VILE thinks I’m dead, and I can’t leave the building in case one of their operatives is out there?”

He shrugged. “I’ll figure something out. If I can organize a date when I only have five bucks to my name, I can organize a date where you don’t have to go outside.”

Zack really had no idea how he was going to pull this off.

With the exception of Crowley everyone on the video chat looked like they didn’t want to be there, although it wasn’t like Carmen wanted to be talking to someone she considered an enemy so late at night, either. Crowley’s gang was awkwardly squished into the background of his video feed, and El Topo was practically falling asleep in Le Chevre’s lap. Even Data, who Crowley had roped into this as soon as he heard that Carmen would be bringing her computer guy on, looked like she’d rather be working on something else. The only one who didn’t seem to care either way was Player.

“Can we make this quick?” Asked Le Chevre. “I would like to get to sleep sometime soon.”

Shadow-San was distracted by something he saw in the video call and didn’t appear to have heard the Frenchman. “Crowley, who is that with you? I recognize Moose Boy and Otter Man, but I do not know that woman you have with you. She is too old to be one of the new graduates, and if she were one of my former students, I would have at least remembered her face.”

“Oh, that’s Shawna.” Explained Moose Boy. “She’s a drug dealer and one of Alistair’s friends.”

“Drug _lord_.” She corrected. “I run an empire of sorts in Glasgow. I may not have dealt with VILE personally, but I have the resources tae help ye in yer fight. Alistair is my friend, and I’ll always have his back no matter what.”

“Crowley, do you really think its safe to involve outside people in this?” Asked Shadow-San. “She has no knowledge of what VILE is capable of or the kind of atrocities they have committed. Just because she is a well-known criminal where she comes from, doesn’t mean she can stand up to VILE.”

“When VILE first recruited me, Shawna had just become the leader of the Glasgow Rats.” Said Crowley. “If they had thought she was obtainable, ye can bet yer arse she would’ve been recruited, too. Shawna was never handed anything in life, she had tae earn what she has now. I can’t think of anyone who would be a better match fer this.”

“If we are all done arguing about who we want on our side, would you care to hurry up and tell us of your master plan to defeat VILE?” Asked Le Chevre, a bit annoyed with how long this was taking. “I would very much like to go to bed.”

Crowley chuckled sheepishly. “In terms of a plan, I have no plan. I didn’t think I’d get this far, to be fair. But now that I know yer all on my side, I’ll work on figurin’ somethin’ out. After all, we’ve got someone on the inside tae tell us what’s goin’ on.”

“I hate to break it to you, but there is only so much I can do without the Head Faculty or Franziska getting suspicious, and if you make zero effort yourself, there isn’t much that will get done.” Said Data. “I can send you the documents I have access to, but that is about it right now.”

“Maybe I can help you out with that.” Suggested Player. “I’ve been Red’s tech guy for a while now, and I’ve got a lot of time on my hands since I’m homeschooled. You probably have admin passwords which is probably exactly what I need to finally get into VILE’s system.”

“You are just a child, at yet you are probably more useful that 90% of my VILE colleagues.” She told him. “Alright, I’ll work with you, just send me your contact information after this call is over.”

“If that’s all settled, I think we’re done here.” Said Crowley. “I’ll call ye back when I figure out what the hell we’re gonna do. Goodnight.”

Carmen was a bit annoyed that Crowley was so insistent on having this meeting right then and there if he hadn’t come up with a plan yet, but at least she knew he wasn’t going to kill her friends.

In the early morning, before anyone else had gotten up, Zack snuck out to the 24-hour supermarket. Of course, he probably could have waited until it was a little lighter out, but he wanted this to be a surprise. Had he woken up at his normal time, Dash would surely have seen him coming in with all the shopping bags and figured out what was up.

As per usual, Zack made breakfast for everyone, but this time he brought it out to the living room and refused to let anyone in the kitchen, telling them he was working on something for Dash and didn’t want to ruin the surprise.

He even recruited Ivy to help him with his plan. While she was distracting Dash by asking him for fashion advice when it came to her current wardrobe, Zack was off setting up a table and chairs in one of the base’s many empty rooms so that they would have at least a little privacy for their date. He even found a tablecloth and put together a nice table setting so that it would be almost like they were at a restaurant.

Finally, around noon he was ready. He had told Dash ahead of time that their date would be at lunchtime, as he knew the taller man would take a while to get ready and would want time to prepare. According to Ivy, he had spent almost an hour and a half choosing an outfit and putting on makeup before he was supposed to see Zack.

“Why do I have to wear this blindfold?” Demanded Dash as he was led to their date. “We’re literally not leaving the building, so I’m pretty sure I know where we’re going.”

“It’s a surprise.” Said Zack. “I spent all morning getting this set up, so I don’t want to spoil the surprise until you’re in there. You’ll be able to take off the blindfold soon, I promise.”

Due to the ex-VILE operative’s past, Zack was worried that Dash might have a problem not being able to see in a place he still wasn’t super familiar with, so he had asked if it was okay first. Dash said a few dramatic things about hating surprises but wasn’t against it.

He led Dash through a doorway, closing the door behind them. “Okay, you can take your blindfold off now.”

When he removed his blindfold, Dash was actually surprised with how Zack had set up the room. The machine parts Ivy had been storing in the room had been put in the corner and covered with a sheet, and the windows were open, the whole place having been cleaned of dust. A table for two with a single candle in the middle had been set up in the center of the room.

“Zack, this is amazing.” He told the redhead. “It really does kind of look like a restaurant in here.”

“Sit down while I get our lunch.” Said Zack, pulling out a chair for Dash. “Its nothing fancy since I didn’t have too long to set everything up, but I made something I know you’ll like.”

He headed off to the kitchen, leaving Dash alone in the room.

From his past experience, when guys took Dash out on a fancy date, they were only after one thing. But Zack was different. Zack wanted their date to be simply romantic, even if it was clear that it wasn’t completely sure what he was doing. Dash found it cute how much effort Zack was putting into making him happy.

Zack returned to the room a few minutes later, carrying a tray with two sandwiches, two bowls of soup, and two bottles of fancy looking soda. He placed the tray on a stack of covered boxes, before carefully moving the items to the table.

“I made everything myself.” He told Dash. “Well, except for the soda, but that I found in the specialty beverage aisle, so I know its fancy. I would’ve gotten wine, but I forgot to ask you if you drink. The sandwiches are turkey and avocado, and the soup is made with fresh summer squash. I also made dessert, but you don’t get that until after lunch.”

As the ate, Zack did the talking, while Dash was mostly silent. A first he figured the brunette was just too busy enjoying his food, but after a while he started to worry that something was up.

“Dash, are you okay? You haven’t really said much.”

“Its just, no guy has ever treated me so well before.” He told Zack. “You went out of your way to make this entire meal for me and set up the perfect date even though I can’t leave the building. Nobody I’ve ever dated before has treated me this well.”

“Oh, sounds like you used to date a lot of assholes in the past. You’ve a wonderful person, Dash, and you in no way deserved the poor treatment you got from your exes and Countess Cleo.”

Dash wasn’t used to being treated like an actual human being, but he liked it. Even Shadow-San and Carmen, who still hardly trusted him, treated him much better than Countess Cleo ever did. There was no way he’d ever be going back to VILE now.

Frankly, Crowley wasn’t sure what drove him to visit Bobcat’s grave. It wasn’t even a proper grave, either, just a little wood marker with her codename and most recent identity on it. While he likely had Bobcat’s real name to add to that marker, he didn’t really feel it was his place to add it or say anything. He had no idea why Bobcat had left her old life behind, but he would respect that her past was behind her.

Crowley was far from a sentimental person. He had people he cared about, but understood that death was permanent, and that he wasn’t going to get to say anything to those he lost ever again. Sure, he kept Fallen Angel’s sketchbook after her death, but he always liked to think of that as trying to preserve the memory of one of the few good people he actually, and someone who would be virtually forgotten outside of her friends. Fallen Angel had also lived a tough life before joining VILE, but unlike himself, she never let herself be overtaken by rage. The sketchbook was a reminder of the person Crowley wanted desperately to be. He’d always wanted to change for the sake of his friends, but that just never seemed to happen.

As a child, Crowley had been preached the idea of an afterlife, the promise that if you were a good person in life, you would have eternal paradise. But as he got older, that all began to seem like total bullshit. As he slowly grew away from Catholicism in his teens, he began to feel the whole idea was hypocritical. A person could fit the exact description of good, but just because they worshiped what some old book considered to be the wrong religion. Or his former priest, who had caused such harm to him-and likely other children before him-would be forgiven so long as he confessed his sins at the pearly gates, simply because he was a man of god.

Of course, Crowley never faulted his parents for buying into religion. Their circumstances had never been the best, and the idea that some higher power would just fix everything so long as they were good people that played by the rules was really all they had to hold on to. It gave them the strength to go on with their shitty lives, just believing that one day everything might work out in their favor.

He really didn’t have any reason to be here right now, and yet he was. Bobcat was no more, the only things here were a wooden marker and a body buried below the surface. He would never be able to apologize for her actions, he could never tell her that Fallen Angel’s death wasn’t her fault, but still he felt the need to say _something._

“Bobcat, I have no idea why I’m even tryin’ tae talk tae ye like this; neither one of us really believed much happens tae ye after death.” He said simply. “But I have some things I need tae say. I regret so much of my life, I know that doesn’t make what I did okay, but I really want tae fix who I am as a person. Its what ye and Devon would’ve wanted, and I won’t let either of yer deaths be fer nothin’.

“The last time I even liked the person I was, was when I was just a wee boy. My childhood was a little more than fooked up, but I think ye figured that out. What happen tae me made me a hateful and angry person, but I needty take some personal responsibility. I was the one who hurt my mates, I was the one who killed ye, I needty stop blamin’ everthin’ bad I ever did on the bastards that hurt me.

“I don’t know a single person who came tae VILE because their life was goin’ well. Devon had to take up whorin’ and killin’ tae survive before she joined, Henrik’s parents died in a fire, Heidi spent her whole childhood in captivity, Neal never even met his real parents, Sven’s a runaway from an abusive household, and yet none of them turned out like me. They never used their problems as an excuse fer hurtin’ people, and yet I felt I had the right tae?

“I never understood how ye kept yer kindness and optimism after over two decades in that hell hole, yer one of the few people VILE didn’t completely ruin. I always thought ye had a motive when ye were kind tae me and the other operatives, but I guess ye never did. Like so many of us, ye were a normal person that got into a fooked up situation, so I don’t fault ye fer yer actions.

“I know ye went tae yer grave thinkin’ ye let Devon die, but that wasn’t true. The whole assignment was a trick; the Head Faculty wanted Devon and the other operatives dead and let them think they could overpower ye. VILE used me tae get rid of ye, and if Heidi had never gotten suspicious, I’d still be killin’ fer them. I regret what I did tae ye; my angel would’ve never wanted that, even if ye _had _caused her death.

“Yer death won’t be in vain; I’m gonna make things right and take VILE down. I’m not gonna let them ruin any more lives. Ye can’t forgive me now, bein’ dead and all, but I know if ye were alive, ye certainly would. Ye just wanted tae help me, and in a way, I guess ye did. I’ll make sure VILE pays for what it did to my angel, ye, and pretty much everyone who’ ever had contact with it, and that’s a promise I don’t intent tae break.”

Crowley was in no way religious or spiritual, but there was something just so freeing about saying what he needed to say, even if it was just to a pile of dirt. He smiled, Bobcat would be remembered not as the person she died as, but as the person she lived as.

Magpie would have liked to stay a little longer than she did. Spend some more time with her friends and maybe get a chance to be alone with Nighthawk, but that wasn’t going to happen. Had she wanted to, she could have easily faked being sick (or actually made herself ill if Roundabout insisted she be looked at by a doctor) but trying to work remotely in her current position had its challenges. The internet connection in the mountains make video chat nearly impossible, and her superior wasn’t exactly a technology expert, either.

She made sure to say farewell to her friends the night before, as she would be leaving very early in the morning, and they would likely all still be asleep at that time. Nighthawk, who had worked a late shift the night before, had snuck off work briefly to say goodbye one last time, promising to call her right away if anything happened with Lonestar, or any of their other friends for that matter.

Despite being the girlfriend of a pilot, Magpie never liked air travel. She had always figured this feeling would go away when she traveled more-especially when she flew with Nighthawk-but it never did. Sure, flying was probably the most convenient and quickest form of travel, but her preference for other modes of transportation never faltered.

Try as she might, she could never pinpoint her exact issue with flying. She had never had an issue with airsickness and had only ever gotten sick on a plane once (although that was less to do with the plane, and more to deal with that Jambalaya that Card Trick _insisted _she had to try upsetting her sensitive stomach). She didn’t fear heights either, having worked as a window washer before joining VILE, engaging in free-climbing from time to time, and even owning a glider at one point (she lost that privilege after getting caught up in a strong gust of wind and slamming into a glass window like a confused pigeon). Planes just made her nervous, that’s all she really knew.

The flight itself wasn’t particularly bad, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have other issues to deal with. Her checked bag hadn’t made her flight, instead being misplaced, and sent over on the flight after hers and wouldn’t be at the airport for over an hour. She could have probably gotten it later but found it easier to wait since she had the rest of the day off, anyways.

Thankfully, her laptop was in her carryon, so Magpie was able to do some work while she was waiting. She sat near the information desk, hoping they would be able to tell her that her bag had arrived soon, but not really paying attention to what was happening around her until a message over the airport’s PA system caught her attention.

“Charlotte Thrush, please come to the information desk!”

At first, Magpie thought it had to be a coincidence. She had no idea where her biological mother was doing with her life (the woman had her Facebook account set to private, and Magpie wasn’t about to send her a friend request), but it seemed pretty odd that she’d be in the same airport right now, even if her name had just been said over the PA. Thrush wasn’t the most common last name, but surely there could be more than one Charlotte Thrush in the United Kingdom.

But when the woman approached the information desk, Magpie knew it had to be her mother. She had a picture of her mother holding her when she was a baby buried among her possessions somewhere, an article from a more innocent time when she was certain the woman would be coming back for her. Her mother didn’t look too much like she did in the picture taken almost twenty years ago, but Magpie had a Facebook profile picture and her own physical traits to go on, so she was absolutely certain that this was her mother.

Magpie didn’t know why she even cared about tracking down the woman that had abandoned her seventeen years ago. She certainly didn’t want to try and build any sort of relationship with her mother; she had already found people that cared about her and would never abandon her, so she certainly didn’t need the woman who hadn’t done anything for her beyond giving birth to her in her life.

Maybe she just wanted to know why her mother had abandoned her. If she truly hadn’t wanted to have a child, why didn’t she simply terminate the pregnancy or give up her parental rights right after childbirth. Magpie would probably have had a much better chance at a loving home if her mother had given her up as an infant. But instead she kept Magpie for three years before deciding to give her up.

As the woman walked away from information desk, Magpie followed after her.

“Mum!” She called. “Mum, stop!”

At first her mother seemed to ignore her, possibly assuming she was calling after someone else, but eventually she turned around, looking a bit confused.

“Sorry, I don’t kno-Maggie? Is that actually you?”

“Yeah, mum, its me.” She told her. “Its been seventeen years since you gave me up, and I’d really like to have a chat with you. I just want a few minutes of your time.”

Her mother’s expression turned harsh. “Its money you want, isn’t it? You blame me for the way your life turned out and think I should pay you now that you’ve found me, right.”

Magpie shook her head. “No, that isn’t it. I blame you for how my life turned out, at least the beginning of it, anyways. My childhood was rough, but I worked hard and I’m in a fairly good place, and I’ve found people that care about me, so I’m not looking to form any sort of relationship with you, either. I just have a few questions for you that I would like to have answered.”

“I don’t know who your father is, if that’s what you’re wondering.” She confessed. “I was drunk and made a mistake, I only remember that he was British. Can you hurry this up? Even if you have time on your hands, I have places to be.”

Magpie was getting annoyed with her mother; especially how dismissive the woman was towards her. Sure, she probably didn’t want a reminder of the child she abandoned, but she certainly didn’t have to act like her estranged daughter was a worthless bum. Magpie’s clothes were all new from Burberry’s fall collection, and she had flown in first class, while the woman’s clothes were certainly not a designer label, and she was likely flying coach. Magpie was doing much better than her mother and she knew it.

“Mum, I make good money for someone my age, certainly more than you were making at twenty, and possibly more that you make now. Quit acting like talking to me is such a big inconvenience when you left me to the system to deal with when I was just a small child. I just have one question for you, and as soon as you answer it, I want us to stay out of each other’s lives from then on. Why did you abandon me? That’s all I want to know.”

“I didn’t want a child.” She said simply. “At least not then, and not with some stranger. I didn’t have it in me to be a single, unwed mother, and so I gave you up.”

“Well, why the bloody hell didn’t you do that in the first place?” Demanded Magpie. “It wouldn’t have been that difficult for you to put me up for adoption, or even abort me if you didn’t want me. If you’d given me up as an infant, I may have actually gotten adopted. I might have been taken in by some nice family, and we wouldn’t be having this conversation because I wouldn’t care about the whore that pushed me out of her loose fanny!”

“Alright, you really want to know the truth?” Shouted her mother. “You were an inconvenience to me, and I never wanted you in my life! I thought I would learn to love you if I kept you around, but I never did. Then, when you were three, I met a man and fell in love. I knew he wouldn’t want me if I had a kid, so I never told him about you, and later put you up for adoption.

“I decided I wanted to move on with my life, and I couldn’t do that with you in it. I thought it would be better for both of us that way, and since you were so young, I figured you wouldn’t even remember. Believe me, at one point I was planning on going back for you, once I got things settled down, but then your half-brother was born, and things just sort of got out of hand. I always figured you would end up with some nice family since you were young and cute, but you certainly can’t blame me for that not working out.”

If this encounter had taken place a year ago, back before Magpie had to learn to keep her emotions in check and keep from calling attention to herself in order to become Roundabout’s assistant, she would have no doubt gone feral on her mother, witnesses be dammed. Nowadays, she was more mature than that, and decided a verbal beatdown would suffice.

“You are the single most selfish individual I have ever met and considering some of the people I’ve encountered in my line of work, that’s really saying something. I now know that I’m fucked up, not because of my childhood spent in a broken system, but because I had you as a mother, and frankly I don’t understand why my biological father ever slept with you in the first place, maybe he just wanted an easy lay. Now that I met you, I’m actually glad you abandoned me, and I feel bad for my half brother for having to be raised by someone as heartless as you.

“I was just an innocent child, and you abandoned me without a second thought, pretending I didn’t exist simply because you felt I was an inconvenience to you getting what _you _wanted. And now that we’re meeting face-to-face you expect me to understand simply because the choices you made, made _you _happy. You never thought about how any of this would affect me, you only thought about yourself. It was a mistake for me to think you would actually have a decent reason for what you did, or that you might actually be a good person. Mark my words, if I ever find myself in contact with your husband or my half-brother, I will make sure they know exactly what kind of person you truly are.”

Her mother seemed shocked by her outburst, but still attempted to double down on her decision. “You know, you probably wouldn’t have ended up in the position you are in now if I had kept you. My husband and I are solidly middle class and would have never been able to afford you designer clothes like that. Your half-brother is also quite lazy and meek, something I see you never had to deal with, not having parents to do everything for you.”

Magpie wasn’t having it. “There is nothing you can say to me that won’t make me think of you as nothing more than a selfish slug. You said you needed to get back to your life, so go! Just remember that my life is better now than yours will ever be.”

The woman shot her a glare, muttering a few things under her breath as she walked off.

Magpie sighed. This day just seemed to be getting better and better.

At first Crowley had only planned on staying the full five days if he didn’t get an answer from El Topo and Le Chevre didn’t give him an answer by then. But after spending more time in Colorado, he decided a short vacation in the countryside would be beneficial to him and his friends.

Colorado wasn’t a bad place in his opinion. Weed was legal and easily available, and you could literally light up a joint in front of a cop without so much as a glance. Nobody else seemed to share Crowley’s excitement about legal marijuana, as Moose Boy and Otter Man didn’t smoke, and Shawna had access to more than enough illegal pot back home to actually care.

Crowley had been pressuring Data to send him more and more of VILE’s classified documents, feeling unsatisfied with the lack of useful information he found within them. Eventually Data got fed up with him and told him that there would be no more documents if she didn’t put in enough work to keep VILE from becoming suspicious, promising him more files when he returned to Scotland, and telling him to actually try and enjoy his first vacation in years.

The first two days of his trip were spent looking over the same documents over and over again in the motel room, hoping to find something he may have missed. Crowley wasn’t used to having down time, so unlike him friends who sent their days in day, he spent his alone in the room. On the morning of the third day he realized that he wasn’t actually making any progress and decided to try and relax for once.

He spent his first day off getting high and exploring the town. From what he had heard, the fall tourist season was going on and a lot of people were coming in from the big cities to see the leaves and participate in traditional country fall activities, so his group was lucky to get a room (he never mentioned that he had bribed his way to the top of the waiting list).

In his stoned state he ended up buying a lot of food and other things he didn’t need and probably wouldn’t be able to fit in his suitcase including a ton of different baked goods (which he proceeded to eat half of when the munchies hit, a bunch of vegetables that he didn’t know how to prepare but found interesting, and a bunch of random handcrafted items he found interesting.

Shawna wasn’t exactly happy with his shopping spree, but not because of the money he spent. She was more annoyed with the number of items they now had to deal with. Moose Boy suggested that before they left, they could give whatever items were left and couldn’t go back to Scotland to El Topo and Le Chevre as a gift, and Shawna seemed satisfied with that idea.

The second day he ended up playing third wheel to Moose Boy and Otter Man. Moose Boy had invited him, and he had assumed Shawna would be there as well, so he accepted. Otter Man didn’t seem too thrilled to have him there, but didn’t comment on it, realizing that this was technically Moose Boy’s fault.

One thing Crowley noticed was that the more Otter Man got out, the more he seemed to actually want to do things. It was obvious that being in their apartment all day back in Scotland was clearly not helping his mental health, and likely making him more depressed. Crowley made a note to make sure his friend got outside more when they returned home.

The final day of his vacation he went out with Shawna. They didn’t have much time to actually do much, as their flight was leaving in the evening, and the morning was spent packing everything up, deciding which of Crowley’s souvenirs would be making their way back to Scotland, and which ones would be given to El Topo and Le Chevre as a parting gift.

Shawna had been spending her time in Scotland trying to form an actual friendship with El Topo and Le Chevre, being the only one of the four to try and do so. Crowley hadn’t been able to figure out if this was a move to gain them as allies, or to actually try and befriend them. Shawna had mellowed a bit with age and was known to be a bit softer in the right situation, but she was still the brutal Rat Queen.

El Topo had been more receptive to her attempts at friendship, while Le Chevre was constantly suspicious of her. Either way, they did seem to trust her the most out of Crowley’s gang. Shawna had always had amazing people skills and could’ve probably been a politician if she’d wanted to.

The last day, before they had to leave to catch their flight, Shawna brought Crowley with her to see El Topo and Le Chevre one last time. The meeting was less awkward than the first time, but it was clear they still didn’t want him there. Crowley was happy when it ended.

Crowley was used to traveling constantly, so he knew getting used to just staying in Scotland was going to be an adjustment. At least it would finally give him some time to spend with his friends, and maybe take care of a little unfinished business here are there.

“Hey, Carm, is this finally gonna be the year you let us pass out candy?” Asked Zack. “Halloween’s not as much fun if we only decorate the inside of the base and don’t pass out candy.”

“I do not think it would be safe to do so.” Replied Shadow-San. “I am aware of several operatives who look young enough to pass as teenagers and would not look out of place among the crowds especially if they were wearing full costume.”

“Shadow-San’s right.” Said Carmen. “It would be too risky with everyone out there is costume. Besides, I don’t think any children would be coming to this part of the city; its all warehouses, and no residential homes, so nobody else would be passing out candy.”

Zack frowned. “Well, that sucks. I guess there’s not much to do around here for fun, then.”

“I’m just glad that I don’t have to go to another one of Countess Cleo’s stupid masquerade balls.” Said Dash. “I have wasted far too many Halloween nights at those things, and she never even let me have fun at them. Always, ‘Keep an eye on those people, Haber, I feel they’re suspicious,’ or, ‘Oh, just flirt back a little, Haber, he’s a valuable connection.’”

“Countess Cleo made you flirt with guys for her own benefit?” Asked Ivy. “That sounds pretty messed up.”

Dash shrugged. “I always figured it was just part of the job; flirt with guys so they’ll lower their guard and VILE can get information from them. The men were rarely attractive and usually older than me, so I felt nothing when I flirted with them. At least I was able to get some nice jewelry out of it by blackmailing the married ones.”

The way Dash talked about the whole thing was far too casual, it was clear he saw little problem with Countess Cleo using him the way she did.

“Well, can we at least decorate the inside of the base, and wear costumes?” Asked Zack. “And of course, we’ll need a lot of candy for all of us.”

“That sounds fine.” Replied Carmen. “Just please have some self-control this year, and don’t make yourself sick again.”

Zack chuckled sheepishly. “Can’t make any promises, Carm.”

Dash rolled his eyes. “I simply don’t understand why I would want to get into this holiday if all we’re going to do is sit around and eat candy, surrounded by some tacky decorations.”

“We’ll let you decorate the entire base and make everyone’s costumes.” Said Ivy.

“Deal!”

Despite neither of them coming from a country where Halloween was really celebrated, El Topo was excited for his first real American Halloween. Le Chevre was indifferent to the whole idea, but if El Topo was happy, then he was happy.

Bobcat’s garden hadn’t had any pumpkins growing in it, but since they were surrounded by farmland, it wasn’t hard to find someone selling pumpkins meant for carving. The next-door neighbor sold them two at a very good price, even throwing in a free bottle of homemade apple cider. El Topo and Le Chevre had known Bobcat was well-liked, but the more they mingled with the other residents of the town, the clearer it became how much of a staple of the community she truly had been.

El Topo had dug through Bobcat’s attic and found a big box of Halloween decorations, including costumes for her dog, cat, and goats. With Le Chevre’s help he decorated the entire outside of the house, and even parts of the inside. The next day they drove all the way to Denver to visit a costume shop El Topo had heard about in order to purchase their outfits for Halloween.

Worried the stores would run out, El Topo purchased a lot of Halloween candy in advanced. They weren’t sure how many trick or treaters they would get, being in such a rural area and all, but it was pretty clear that El Topo had gone a bit overboard.

Had it not been for the nightly updates she had to send to VILE, Blue Jay would have long forgotten that she had come to New Zealand for an assignment. It felt more like a vacation at this point, and not wanting it to end, she always made sure to remind the Head Faculty about the suspicious calls from Data she had blocked (although Dr. Bellum was convinced that the calls had to be innocent, as it wasn’t like Data to stir up issues), and how Neal needed to be constantly monitored.

Blue Jay had been with multiple other VILE operatives before. While dating was frowned upon within the organization, that didn’t mean nobody did it. Just keep it out of the open, and the Head Faculty would never bother you unless it became an issue. Neal was a bit older than the people she normally dated, but the age difference didn’t bother her too much, as Neal was much better to be around than her previous partners.

She had found herself staying over at Neal’s place more often than not and would leave a tank top and pair of jogging shorts there so she wouldn’t have to run back to her apartment before her morning jog. She liked to get up early and run a few miles before it got too hot. Neal had declined her offer of joining in, as he claimed he never got up that early unless he was forced to.

Usually when she got back from her run Neal would still be asleep, but today he was waiting for her at the kitchen table eating a bowl of cereal.

“I made you breakfast, Kiara.” He said, motioning to an empty bowl, a spoon, the cereal box, and the milk sitting on the table.

Blue Jay chuckled, giving him a quick peck on the cheek. “I don’t think putting cereal on the table counts as making breakfast, Neal. But I guess its more than you usually do. So, what got you out of bed this early?”

Blue Jay was a little worried the Neal had figured out the situation with VILE, but there was no way that could’ve happened. She had covered all her bases so well, and nobody involved had reached out to him. He also seemed far too calm right now for somebody who had figured out that VILE was keeping them in the dark like this.

“I have something I want to ask you, love.” He said simply. “I know I’m a bit older than you, and this sort of thing isn’t exactly permitted in VILE, anyways, but I wanted to know if you would like to be my girlfriend.”

Blue Jay couldn’t help but laugh. She and Neal had been basically dating for a while now, going out together frequently, spending time together, hell, they’d even had sex at that point. She couldn’t figure out how Neal got it in his head that they _weren’t _dating.

“So that’s a harsh no?”

Blue Jay gave him a playful shove. “No, you idiot, I thought we were _already _dating. I mean, if you need a verbal answer, it’s an obvious yes.”

Neal grinned. “Works for me!”

Ever since she had returned from her trip, Magpie’s behavior had been different, Roundabout noticed. Normally, she was quite calm and relaxed, but recently she seemed quicker to anger and a bit higher strung. She had been trained to keep her emotions under control, and remain calm under pressure, but it was clear something was breaking through her barrier, and he was determined to figure out what.

At first, he figured she was upset that he made her cut her trip short, but that didn’t fit with her typical behavior. Before deciding on Magpie as an assistant, Roundabout had read through the behavior profile Professor Maelstrom had run on her when she was a student, and if she was directly angry at him, she would have displayed it in different ways. But since she was showing no retaliation behaviors, and her work ethic hadn’t seen any drastic changes, this shift in mood likely had nothing to do with him.

Asking Magpie would never yield any results. She would deny anything being wrong and would do her best to conceal her behaviors upon realizing he noticed, but nothing would really be solved. Roundabout had grown found of the young woman during the time she worked for him, and she was a wonderful assistant, so he didn’t want whatever was going on with her to destroy her potential.

Roundabout decided that his best option would be to contact Nighthawk. The Head Faculty were aware of the relationship between the two operatives, but since they were both valuable assets in their own right, and mostly kept their relationship down low, they didn’t care.

Had the roles been reversed, Magpie would never share anything her girlfriend wanted to keep secret. She was never a snitch unless it somehow benefited her. Nighthawk, on the other hand, was an obedient soldier. Having been raised in a military family and serving in the New Zealand Royal Air Force before joining VILE, she rarely questioned orders and trusted her command completely.

After Magpie had headed off to lunch, Roundabout made a call to Nighthawk. Normally, guards would be punished for taking calls while on a shift, but calls from the Head Faculty were the exception, especially with the operatives acting as temporary guard, as they could be reassigned at any time.

_“Hello, sir.” _Nighthawk greeted. _“From what I was told when I took this position, I assume this means I am being reassigned. Will it be right away, or will I remain here a little longer? I know any new guards VILE has hired will need to be trained, and I haven’t been made aware of any new guards on the property yet.”_

“You are not being reassigned; Crowley has presented a clear and present danger and seeing that we have yet to set up a proper infirmary at the new headquarters, the hospital is more important than ever.” He explained. “This is actually about Margaret; I understand you two are quite close, and that she visited you recently.”

_“We are just friends; our entire group is very close_.” She lied. _“The visit was to see Matthew before his surgery, and two of our other friends came along as well.”_

“I am aware of your relationship, and I assure you, this has nothing to do with it.” He told her. “I am calling because Margaret’s behavior has taken an odd turn recently, and I worry something may be going on with her. Did anything happen when she was with you? Her behavior only seemed to change after her return and seeing as her moodiness doesn’t seem to be targeted at me directly, I doubt it has anything to do with me forcing her to return early.”

_“Mags wasn’t mad that you made her return early; she understands the importance of her job_.” Said Nighthawk. _“Her mood was fine the entire time I was with her, even after a mild altercation with Dr. Vess. If anything happened to upset her, it was probably after she left the hospital.”_

“I would like you to find out what happened to cause this type of change, and report back to me once you figure it out. Do not let Margaret know about this conversation or your intentions.”

Nighthawk hesitated slightly. _“Mag’s won’t like this, and I have no way to guarantee she won’t figure it out on her own; she’s very good at reading people. I’ll contact her as soon as possible.”_

“Good, thank you.”

The only time when Dr. Llyewlyn didn’t actually hate his life was the two weeks he got off a year. The vacation was the only time he really had control of his life, the only escape he had from the hell that was working for VILE, specifically working under Dr. Vess. And now, he wasn’t even getting that.

Two days off meant nothing to him; he got a week of personal days a year and could have taken something like this off in a second. He knew better than to argue, though, and would take what he could get; he just had to cram two weeks of drinking into two days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dr. Vess belongs to Violetfic.
> 
> Thanks for reading, as always, if you like the fic, please leave a review. I have less time to write currently, but should get more time in less than a month.


	21. Take me to Church

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crowley and Dr. Llyewlyn deal with their pasts. Data finally gets a lead

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about how slow I've been, but school is almost over so I'll try to be faster with my chapters after that.
> 
> Trigger warnings for this chapter: Sexual abuse, child abuse, violence, drug use, mentions of self-harm, homophobia.

Crowley was becoming more and more frustrated with their lack of progress, and the fact that he had nothing to do didn’t help. The Head Faculty had always made a point to keep him busy with assignments, knowing that getting too agitated could cause his violent temper to flare, but now that he was in control of his life again, he was going crazy.

He didn’t know how he’d survived ten years ago without any type of structure in his life. The Glasgow Rats had kept him busy and minimized the amount of non-gang related trouble he got in, but most of the time he was left to do his own thing. Maybe it was just easier to keep yourself occupied when you were younger and not used to somebody breathing down your neck.

Crowley was starting to really understand why Bobcat did drugs and had so much sex when she was a VILE operative. Down time was bad for seasoned operatives; it gave you time to think. Everything you tried to repress, your past, what you did for VILE, the lives you took and lives you lost, it all came bubbling to the surface. For someone like Bobcat, who wasn’t dead inside or numb to it all, this would be especially hard. She had turned to drugs and sex as a distraction from the pain.

They were very different, but in a lot of ways he and Bobcat were the same. Crowley occasionally smoked pot, but never got into the harder drugs that Bobcat had. Instead, his addiction was rage. The anger protected him from those that might want to hurt him and allowed him to keep his other emotions at bay. He chose anger over sadness and loneliness, convincing himself that he was better off alone. So far, the only person able to break through his walls was Fallen Angel, and after her death, he built them back up stronger.

Instead of letting his anger once again take control and cause him to hurt somebody he cared about, Crowley was doing his best to use his time to fulfil his promise of trying to be a better person. He had actually gone to the library to check out self-help books, but had decided they all looked stupid, and that he could probably figure out this being a better person thing himself. He figured it was probably best to start small, mainly with patching things up with his friends.

Data was too busy for him to try and rekindle any lost friendship that their separation and limited contact had caused, and he’d been warned that trying to contact Neal was a horrible idea right now, so Crowley decided it would be best to try and get closer to his friends that were currently local.

He hadn’t had many friends before joining VILE, and most of the ones he did have were dead or under new identities, with only Shawna remaining. There was nothing he needed to patch up with Shawna, however, as they had always been close and understood each other’s issues. Shawna knew the kinds of things that would cause Crowley to fly into a rage, and had always been good with damage control, so his temper had never been a problem with her.

He knew that Moose Boy had long forgiven him for the incident seven years ago. The blond was very similar to a golden retriever in personality; normally happy, loyal, and not the type to hold grudges. If anything, he was angrier that Crowley had attacked Otter Man than getting stabbed himself.

Otter Man, on the other hand, was a different story. Thanks to his abusive childhood, it had taken him a while to actually trust any of them upon joining VILE, and having that trust broken in such a way really hurt him. It had taken over a year for him to no longer be afraid of Crowley (he had done his best to assure everyone that there would never be a repeat of his actions), but it was quite possible he would never fully trust the Scotsman again.

Seeing as Otter Man’s mental health had improved greatly in Colorado when he wasn’t inside all the time, Crowley made his best to make sure the Swede left the apartment every day. They didn’t go anywhere too exciting, mostly just out to random stores, but he did seem to be doing better.

Try as he might, Crowley could never stop being the angry person he always had been, at least not on his own. That would require years of therapy and lots of medication, two things he really didn’t have access to right now. The only way he could keep from hurting his friends was finding an outlet for his rage, and he did, assisting Shawna and the Glasgow Rats.

It was in his nature to fight, and this way he didn’t have to worry about taking his aggression out on his friends. He felt no moral issue fighting or killing the members of other gangs, especially the Snakes. The gang members were people, sure, but they were people that were just like him. If they died maybe the world would be a better place.

Seeing as Shawna was helping him out greatly with his own plan, when she asked for help taking down a particularly feisty group of Snakes trying to muscle in on her territory, Crowley was quick to lend a hand.

Normally Shawna would never physically join a fight. Of course, she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, and had personally trained a great deal of the Rats how to fight, but she was usually far too busy with other things not to bother unless Den Mother herself would be showing up.

But this particular group of Snakes had crossed a line with her; attacking and robbing regular citizens in her territory and bringing on attention from law enforcement. Shawna prided herself in keeping her territory free of petty crime. The drug trade was fairly well known, but as long as it stayed an underground operation, and only gang members were dying, the cops didn’t seem to care. But when normal people were getting hurt, that was a problem for them.

Shawna’s predecessor had actually been killed due to similar circumstances, although those were completely his fault. He got too cocky, assuming he could never get caught no matter what he did. And when he saw a necklace he wanted in a jewelry store window, instead of coming back when the store was open and paying for it with his basically limitless funds, he decided to break in, not realizing how close the place was to a police station. The cops were able to figure out who he was, and because of how dangerous he was presumed to be, they opened fire, killing him with a barrage of bullets.

Shawna wasn’t stupid. She always kept a good relationship with civilians and made sure her gang members did the same. If a normal person had a good reason to need to be taken out (such as child abusers), she would attend to the matter personally. The Glasgow Rats were never to engage in violence against civilians except in instances of legitimate self-defense, and Shawna had made it clear that she would have no problem killing one member if it meant protecting the rest of the gang.

With Crowley and Shawna on the opposing side, the Snakes never stood a chance. The smarter and more experienced ones fled as soon as the saw the Rat Queen herself making an appearance, but the dumber and cockier ones stayed behind. Some even made the poor decision of taunting Shawna, insisting she must be some weak figurehead if she usually didn’t come out to fight.

Had Crowley been in her situation, he would have charged at the Snakes instantly, but Shawna remained completely cool. She simply stared down the gang members as the hurled insults her way, holding her chain enticingly.

“This is yer last chance tae leave.” She said calmly. “There’s a good reason a lot of yer friends ran off, and I suggest ye join them.”

One of the Snakes, the apparent leader of the group, laughed. “Ye think just because ye got a bunch of dumbasses followin’ ye around makes ye tough? We’ll see how tough ye really are when I bring yer head tae Den Mother.”

Without another word, Shawna swung her chain, taking out the ringleader with a swift hit to the head. The rest of her gang quickly followed suit, attacking the Snakes before they could even react.

The battle ended surprisingly quickly. The Rats took little damage, safe for a few minor injuries here and there, but the Snakes saw heavy loss, most of their fighters ending up seriously injured or killed, and those that weren’t retreating. Shawna glanced down at her now bloodied chain and smiled. Hopefully, that would be the last she’d see of the Snakes for a while.

After a quick briefing session and making sure everyone was okay, Shawna headed back to her apartment with Crowley, turning down her gang member’s offer to join them for drinks. Normally, she would have gone with them, but she hadn’t gotten a lot of time to catch up with Crowley recently, especially with how busy everything was.

Moose Boy and Otter Man had gone out on a date that night, and likely wouldn’t be back until late, so Crowley wouldn’t have to worry about being back for dinner. He and Shawna could just grab some takeaway on their way back to her place and eat it while they talked.

They spend a few hours sitting on Shawna’s couch, just talking. The subject of conversation went from what they both had been up to recently, the current situation they were in, and even global affairs. Eventually the topic switched to being about their parents, something neither Shawna nor Crowley considered to be a happy topic.

“Ye know, I learned recently my dad actually killed my step-dad.” Said Shawna. “I went tae visit him a few months back, and the subject came up, so he told me the truth.”

Shawna’s father had been the only one to actually believe her about the abuse. Unfortunately, because of his multiple arrest warrants all over the United Kingdom, there wasn’t much he could have done about it without landing himself in prison for the rest of his life.

“Wasn’t his death his own fault?” Asked Crowley. “He got drunk off his arse and drove into a tree.”

“That’s exactly what I thought. Turns out my dad cut his breaks, got him drunk, and convinced him tae drive home. By some miracle, the bastard only killed himself.”

Crowley hadn’t seen either of his parents in over a decade. They had never believed him about the abuse he was suffering at the hands of a trusted religious authority, and the last time he had seen them, they were looking into sending him to a school for emotionally disturbed teens. They had gone their separate ways for a very good reason.

But for some strange reason, Crowley was beginning to feel a desire to visit them again. Perhaps it had to do with finally finding closure with Bobcat, as he knew there was a lot of unresolved tension between the three of them. He was no longer a scared, little kid that they could ignore; he was a grown man who would make them hear him out, whether they wanted to or not.

“Ye know, I think I’m gonna go see my parents.” He told Shawna. “I’ll go see them Sunday after they get out of church; they’re never doin’ anythin’ then.”

“Don’t do it, Alistair.” Shawna warned. “Ye’ll just get yerself in trouble.”

Crowley nodded like he understood, but Shawna hadn’t persuaded him. He was going to visit his parents, and hopefully he would do it without being arrested or killing anybody.

As soon as he had been put in charge of the Halloween decorating, the first thing he did was outlaw tacky plastic decorations. This, of course, meant that basically all the Halloween decorations that Team Red owned were off the table. Dash insisted on making his own decorations or buying nicer ones online.

It had taken a lot of convincing, but Dash was able to get Carmen to give him his own device, a tablet that had been jailbroken by Player so that Team Red had more control over what it was used for. If he wanted to visit a site that wasn’t already whitelisted, or even download an app, Dash would have to message Player for permission. It drove him crazy how little freedom he was given, but this was at least a step in the right direction.

When he wasn’t actively working on something, Dash spent his time on Pinterest, looking for inspiration for their perfect Halloween. His aesthetic for decorating focused mostly on simple and elegant decorations, using just orange, white, and black. Ivy had complained that the whole thing looked boring in comparison to the colorful, plastic ones they already had. Zack had to agree with her, but neither of them were about to tell Dash that.

Even if the base didn’t exactly fit what Zack and Ivy had envisioned for a perfect Halloween, they had to admit, it looked pretty nice. The fake crows and creepy birdcages, the pumpkins, the candles, it all came together in an elegant display that wouldn’t look out of place in a home decorating magazine. Dash seemed extremely satisfied with his work, going so far as taking a ton of pictures, despite knowing he wouldn’t be able to post them anywhere for security reasons.

For their Halloween costumes, Dash allowed everybody a little more choice, adding his own touch to whatever costume they had asked him to make. Like the year before, Shadow-San was very much against putting on a costume, but for the most part, Dash had no trouble designing and creating everyone else an amazing costume that they absolutely loved.

He made Carmen a wonderful Red Ridinghood costume, the cloak was honestly something she could see wearing for other occasions as well. Ivy got a Spider-Gwen costume, based on the design from the Spiderverse movie, but with a few design changes. Zack hadn’t decided what he wanted to be, so Dash made him a warlock costume. As for his own costume, Dash decided to go as a Victorian-era Dandy, which honestly wasn’t much different than how he had dressed back at VILE.

They wouldn’t be going anywhere or really doing anything for Halloween. Nobody would see the inside of the base, or the costumes Dash had spent so much time on. But the creativity did seem to make him happy, so it wasn’t a complete waste.

The Swiss Alps were far too cold for any sane person to want to live there, Dr. Llyewlyn had decided. This idea was further backed up by the fact that the location had been selected by Bellum and Vess’s predecessors, both of which he could attest to not being fully there mentally.

Part of him had just wanted to stay inside and spend his two days off in his room, but he had a few things he needed to get in town. It never snowed much in Wales, so despite being up to date with all his VILE driving certifications, Dr. Llyewlyn wasn’t allowed to drive in the snow. Of course, it probably didn’t help that he had crashed into a snowbank the first time he tried to drive into town. He hated having to have a guard drive him into town, but at least they could be easily bribed if he wanted to bring back any banned items.

Dr. Llyewlyn would buy most of his painting supplies online-good oil paints and canvases were hard to come by in the middle of nowhere-but brushes were something he refused to buy online, even if he had to pay a lot more for them. Oil paint brushes could be finicky, and he had grown very particular with the type he needed for certain works. One shop in town had started carrying brushes specifically for him, albeit at a huge markup. Dr. Llyewlyn didn’t care how much they charged him, however; VILE paid him very well and gave him little opportunity to spend it, and he saw the markup as more of a convenience fee than anything.

One of the biggest businesses in town was the liquor store. A great deal of the people who did business in the town were VILE doctors, nurses, and guards, and with the rampant substance abuse problems between the three groups, selling booze to VILE’s most overworked employees was a lucrative business. Dr. Llyewlyn had always had a taste for whiskey, and back on the island when Bobcat was around, he would occasionally partake in the harder stuff she’d bring back.

Substance abuse issues had always been a problem with VILE’s medical staff, especially before Dr. Vess came along. VILE’s former surgeon and head doctor had been a very unorganized man, and opioids and Benzos were just far too easy to get without him knowing or caring. Vess had put a stop to this with his immaculate record keeping, after realizing VILE’s supply of commonly abused drugs was depleting at an alarming rate with an unusual number of reorders from pharmaceutical companies VILE purchased from. After this realization, all of these medications were placed under lock and key, and only accessible by a few individuals who were drug tested regularly. Everyone was pretty sure that Vess hadn’t done this out of concern for the staff, but because the abuse caused inconsistencies in his own record keeping.

Despite not having anything that would get confiscated, Dr. Llyewlyn still paid off the guard not to search him bag. He really just hated having his things gone through. After over thirty years of employment, he figured that VILE would trust his enough to not bring anything too dangerous back. Of course, the search was probably Vess’s idea, rather than any member of the Head Faculty.

Upon arriving back at the hospital, Dr. Llyewlyn did a quick check to see where Dr. Vess was, relieved to find the man was busy performing surgery and would likely not be finished for a while. This gave him the perfect opportunity to sneak a nitrous container from the storeroom.

Dr. Llyewlyn had discovered the joys of recreational nitrous use as a young dental student. It was easy enough for him to acquire, and because he had been trained in the proper use of the gas, he didn’t see using it for his own benefit to be dangerous. Of course, Dr. Vess didn’t appreciate his unapproved use of the drug, and would probably find out about this, but that was a problem for later.

Data was used to a heavy workload. She didn’t go out much, so having a lot of work to do kept her busy, and she loved what she did. It didn’t matter if it was hacking into some company’s systems, removing encryption from government hard drives, or simply keeping VILE’s databases up and working, she took great pride in it all. As long as she was in her element, it didn’t really matter what she was doing.

The extra work for Crowley put even more strain on her. A lot of what he wanted could be automated, as it made more sense to set up a script to find what he wanted throughout the databases, but there was still a lot of work she had to do for that. Besides writing the scripts, she had to make sure her tracks were covered, and would have to manually go through whatever the script returned after it had completed its run. Player had been a little helpful with that, but his use of the databases seemed to be mostly to help Carmen stop VILE on a smaller scale.

Data knew her work output for VILE had decreased recently due to her little side project and was worried VILE would notice that she was slipping up sooner or later. Data had always been seen as naïve and obedient in the eyes of the Head Faculty, so a little change wouldn’t be questioned. But with Crowley constantly pressuring her to get him more information, she wasn’t sure how long it would be before they became suspicious.

It wasn’t long before somebody did notice, however, it wasn’t the Head Faculty like she had feared.

As Data was doing her best to find weak points in the Russian government’s firewall, she received a video call invitation from The Troll. Without hesitation, she clicked it.

She had always gotten along pretty well with The Troll. He had graduated a few years before she had but had never saw her as lesser due to her being a bit younger and had always treated her as an equal. They used to work face-to-face fairly often initially, but after an accident that caused The Troll to lose the use of his legs, all work was done remotely, and she hadn’t seen him in person in years.

“Anthony, it has been a while.” She greeted him. “We haven’t worked on a project together in months, and I’m afraid I haven’t had time to reach out to you lately. I trust everything is still going well for you.

_“Everything is still fine over here.” _He told her. _“Heidi, the reason I’ve decided to call you is because I’ve noticed a decrease in your work output lately. Its not really enough to be an issue, or for the Head Faculty to notice, but you’re normally so on top of things. I’m actually kind of worried that something might be wrong.”_

Like pretty much everyone, The Troll didn’t see Data as a threat to VILE. She had always been that quiet, little German girl that did what she was told, so it made sense that everyone still viewed her that way. But a part of her still worried that somebody would notice that something was up, and stumble upon exactly what she was doing. The Troll could easily be that person.

“Franziska’s best girl just gave birth to an enormous litter of twelve a few weeks ago, and I’ve been very preoccupied with helping her with the puppies.” Said Data. “The poor mother just can’t keep up, and we’re already down to just eleven puppies, having lost the runt of the littler recently. Once the puppies are old enough to leave their mother, and Franziska can judge the ones that would be more beneficial to VILE to sell than keep and train as guard dogs I’ll be able to complete my tasks in a more timely manner.”

Everything she had said about the dogs was completely true. Sargent Schlachten liked to have one or two litters a year total, despite her multiple females of breeding age. This particular dog, Petra, had been her main dog for a few years now, and was the daughter of her (now retired) original dog. Petra had proved to be stronger and more intelligent than her mother, but Sargent Schlachten had been reluctant to breed her, not wanting to have her main dog out of commission for a while.

As far as they could tell this early on, Petra’s puppies were all very much like their mother. Of course, there were a few that seemed like they would be better suited as show dogs, farm dogs, or even just regular pets. That was to be expected, however, as just because the parents were good guard dogs or search dogs didn’t guarantee that their offspring would have the same aptitude for work as them. Petra’s puppies were of the highest caliber and Sargent Schlachten would be very selective with where they went after they completed their training.

_“That makes sense.”_ He replied. _“I just know that a lot is going on with VILE and wanted to make sure that everything was okay. If anything comes up, feel free to contact me.”_

“I will, thank you.”

The Troll had a brother the same age as Data, and while she had never met him, she had heard that she was pretty similar to him in personality. The Troll’s brother worked for VILE as well, but not as an operative. Instead he was a nurse at one of VILE’s facilities, although Data didn’t know which one.

El Topo had to admit, he just wasn’t that great at pumpkin carving. Le Chevre had managed a very detailed design of a cat and two bats, and seemed to be adding even more to it, while El Topo was struggling with the very basic cutout he was trying to create. He had wanted to do the silhouette of a goat on his, but it had turned out very crooked and awkward, nothing like the _easy _pattern he had found online, and not much like a goat, either.

“I think I am almost done, _Mon chou_.” Said Le Chevre. “What about you, do you think you will be done with your pumpkin soon?”

El Topo looked at his own carving and frowned. “_Si_, but I think I may have messed it up.”

“Nonsense, I am sure whatever you decided to do looks wonderful. Let me see it.”

El Topo turned his pumpkin for Le Chevre to see, expected a not-so-genuine compliment in response, but his fiancé actually seemed to love his design.

“You made a goat because you know I based my codename on them.” Said Le Chevre. “I love it.”

“_Si, _but it is crooked and looks nothing like the pattern. It did not come out even close to as well as yours.”

“Maybe, but you made it with me in mind. I just did a Halloween design, nothing special for you.”

El Topo smiled. “Thank you, I am glad you like it. Since we are all done with decorating, would you like to help me put the costume’s on Bobcat’s pets?”

The goats and dog would be easy enough to dress up, but Le Chevre was not looking forward to trying to put clothing on Mota, the cat. He’d needed to give her a bath a few weeks earlier when she had managed to break a pen and cover herself in ink, and considering the scratches he got from that one, putting on her little vampire cape didn’t seem too promising of an idea. But he knew it would make El Topo happy, so he would have to do it, anyways.

Nighthawk had been putting off calling Magpie as long as she could. The younger woman was extremely intelligent and had always been amazing at reading people, so it was a possibility that she would realize that the phone call had a hidden agenda behind it before actually sharing anything useful. And even if she didn’t figure it out then, Magpie would certainly know what was going on if Roundabout brought it up.

Magpie never had an issue with manipulating other people but was never too happy when the tables turned, and she was the one being tricked. Nighthawk knew that her girlfriend would be exceedingly outraged upon finding out she was used by someone so close to her. Magpie was hard to deal with when she was angry, and there was no telling how long she would hold a grudge after this.

But Roundabout was a member of the Head Faculty and Nighthawk couldn’t just disobey him. It was clear he knew about the relationship she had with Magpie and could easily use this against them if Nighthawk didn’t do what he wanted. She decided that tricking Magpie into giving her the information Roundabout wanted was the safest option for both of them, she’d deal with the consequences later.

It was a few days before she could find a time that would work with both of their schedules. In the past they would regularly talk at least once a week when Magpie had gotten off for the day, and Nighthawk wasn’t currently working a guard shift, but they had both gotten a lot busier in recent times, so the phone calls happened less and less. Magpie was working later and later into the evenings, and Nighthawk had found herself working more evening and night shifts. Even when there was time, one or both of them would often be too tired to talk.

Nighthawk was aware that relationships needed a certain level of communication to exist, but that wasn’t really a luxury they could have at the moment. Ever since Crowley had left VILE, tensions had been high, and workloads were increased. The news of his escape had still not yet become known to the average operative in order to avoid starting a panic or causing further uprising.

The guards at the hospital were taking a lot of heat for allowing for Crowley’s escape, and until better procedures to make sure nothing like that could ever happen again, the only solution was to increase the number of guards on at a time, which until they could hire more guards, meant simply making everyone work more shifts. In a way, this led to less security, as everyone was always tired, and didn’t have the time to keep up their workout routines between shifts.

In theory, Crowley’s escape could have probably been prevented. In reality, that simply wasn’t possible. The number of guards they had was limited, and it didn’t make sense to assign every patient their own guard. They’d had no way of knowing Crowley’s plan for escape. Not only had he been exceptionally loyal and unquestioning of his orders for his entire time with VILE, but he had been badly injured at the time of his escape, too badly injured for anyone to think he’d be able to fight a guard and escape.

The Head Faculty was putting most of their effort into finding and neutralizing Crowley, which as Roundabout’s assistant, Magpie was closely involved in. The last confirmed location of Crowley was near Glasgow, where he had crashed the stolen helicopter into a river. While VILE found it unlikely that he was still in Scotland, much less the area of the crash, he was probably still in the United Kingdom, or at least Europe. He couldn’t have gotten too far with his injuries and lack of funds.

When Nighthawk actually did get a time when she would be able to call Magpie, she was already exhausted from the days work. Although she loved her girlfriend, there were just sometimes she wanted to be alone to decompress. Despite this, she knew she had a task to complete and made the call anyways.

_“Kaia, I love you, but can we please talk at a later date?” _Magpie sounded exhausted when she answered. _“I’m tired and stressed, and I just want a nice bath before I head off to bed.”_

“I miss you, and we really didn’t get enough time together when you visited the hospital.” Replied Nighthawk. “I’ve been doing well, and you know what I’ve been up to, but I want to hear about you. I know this has been a hard time for both of us, and maybe you’ll feel better if we talk a bit.”

_“I wish I could, but I don’t have the time.” _Said Magpie. _“I’m extremely tired and have to be at work early tomorrow. Goodnight, Kaia, I love you.”_

Before Nighthawk could reply, Magpie had already ended the call.

Nighthawk sighed. Getting Roundabout the information he had requested about Magpie’s wellbeing would be harder than she thought.

Shawna had warned him not to do this repeatedly, but Crowley saw no reason he had to listen to her. If he’d gone through with this even just a few months earlier, there was no doubt he would have murdered both his parents and set their home ablaze, but that wasn’t the person he wanted to be anymore.

Crowley had no plans to try and reconcile with his parents-they had hurt him in the past, and he didn’t think he could ever forgive them for not believing him about the years of abuse, and treating him like a burden for most of his life-he just wanted to talk. There hadn’t been any words exchanged as they had watched their sixteen-year-old son walk out of the house with just a small suitcase all those years ago, and maybe that was what drove him to go back.

He’d run away multiple times before leaving for good but had always come back in a few days. Hell, he hadn’t even decided if he wanted to stay gone until a few days later, so it was certainly possible that they’d just assumed he’d come back. That, or they were hoping to get rid of their disappointment of a son for good and wanted that to be the last time they saw him.

His parents still lived in the same apartment they had when he was growing up, in only a slightly less shitty part of the city than where he was living now. There wasn’t as much gang violence over there, but drug addiction was much more common. While his parents were hardworking, law-abiding citizens, and never got involved with drugs, Crowley had always assumed they were alcoholics.

He showed up in the middle of the day when his parents were still at work. But instead of coming back in the evening when he knew they would be home, Crowley decided to pick the lock and break in. After more than a decade of him being away, he wondered if it still even resembled how he remembered it.

Surprisingly enough, the place didn’t look too much different than it used to. The ugly box TV had been replaced with a small flatscreen, and the couch had been replaced, but other than that, things seemed to have remained the same. The living room walls were that same horrid yellow, and the carpet still had the burned spot where he had dropped a cigarette on it at thirteen. The kitchen wallpaper was more faded than he remembered, and the tiles dirtier, but that was to be expected.

His old bedroom appeared to now be used for storage. All his old things, including his bed, were still there, however, and it seemed like his parents were just shoving boxes and bags of clutter that they didn’t want to deal with in there. As Crowley dug through the mess, he began finding relics of his childhood that he regretted not taking originally. Things he had assumed were buried in a landfill at this point but had never left his childhood bedroom.

His old poetry journals were still on the top shelf of his closet, the last one still tucked between the mattress and bedframe, hidden next to an old flashlight that now appeared to be leaking battery acid. Crowley had long since given up his dream of being a famous writer, but still enjoyed his poetry as a coping mechanism. He kept all of his other notebooks stored away at his apartment but had nearly forgotten about these. Of course, he knew all the poems were just the terrible rantings of his childhood self, and depicted some of the worst parts of his life, but he would like to have them as a memento of the past he had escaped.

Even after unearthing all of the possessions that he planned to take home with him, it was still only a quarter until five. Crowley waited in his old bedroom with the door shut until he could hear both of his parents talking in the living room to make his appearance. As soon as she saw him, his mother let out a loud scream, and his father was already reaching for the phone to call the cops.

Crowley honestly wasn’t sure if his parents recognized him or not. He wasn’t the skinny teen with vibrant red hair that they had known. He was a grown man with bleached-blonde hair, scars, and who had been certainly aged by his experiences. He couldn’t tell if they were frightened because they thought there was a stranger in their house, or because their son who they hadn’t seen in sixteen years, and who had a long history of violence had broken into their house.

“Mum, its me.” He said, removing his sunglasses. “Don’t ye recognize me?”

“Oh, I recognized ye.” Said his father, frantically trying to dial for help.

Instinctively, Crowley ripped the landline out of his hands and tossed the phone through the glass window, much to the horror of both his parents.

His mother stared at him in fear. Having been born in England, she lacked the strong Scottish accent he and his father had. “Don’t do this, Alistair. We’re your parents, we raised you, don’t do this to us.”

“I ain’t gonna hurt ye.” He promised. “I just freaked out a bit when ye picked up the phone. My old job made me jumpy, but I’m not the person ye knew anymore. I ain’t gonna do anything’, I just wanna talk. I’ll pay ye fer the phone and the window before I leave.”

“What the fook is there even tae talk about?” Demanded his father. “Ye ran away and spent half yer life god knows where, and now ye just show up out of tae blue? We assumed ye were dead and moved on with our lives, and I’d like tae keep it that way.”

“I think we should let him speak.” Said his mother. “I don’t know where Alistair has been for the last sixteen years, and I don’t know if his personality has changed at all, but I’m afraid of what he might do to us if we don’t.”

His father shot him a glare. “I should of sent ye tae that school when I had the chance, made ye someone else’s problem. I’ll listen tae yer mother, though, she was always the best at dealin’ with ye.”

Crowley’s father’s idea of punishment had always bordered on abuse, hitting his son with a belt, locking him out of the house in the middle of the night, and not feeding him for a day or two. His mother, on the other hand, actually tried to talk to her son and try to make him understand what he did wrong, up until the point she had decided that he was a lost cause.

Crowley sighed. He didn’t want his parents in his life, but if he knew this conversation were never to happen, he would never be able to leave his childhood behind. “Ye weren’t the worst parents in the world; ye tried yer best tae raise me, and raisin’ a kid below the poverty line ain’t ever easy. I know I could be an arse at times, and I recognize that my behavior hurt ye, and what I went through ain’t an excuse for a lot of it.

“One thing I do wanna know, is why ye never believed me. When I told ye what that bastard was doin’ tae me, ye accused me of lyin’, said I was makin’ up excuses tae hide my sexuality. It hurt that ye didn’t believe me, and I don’t think I can ever forgive ye for that.”

“Ye were a little shite.” His father said simply. “The church was never anythin’ but good tae us, and ye only seemed tae make our lives harder. Other altar boys spoke out after he died, and that’s the only reason why we believe ye now.”

“When you told us, it had been going on for so long, we didn’t understand why you were only telling us now.” Added his mother. “And like your father said, you were always getting into trouble, so we really didn’t know if you were telling the truth or not, especially since none of the other altar boys had come forward yet.”

Crowley could feel his temper flare with every infuriating word his parents said, and it was becoming harder to stay in control of his emotions. “Did ye ever stop tae wonder if I was actin’ out _because _of the abuse? I didn’t know how tae cope with everythin’ that was goin’ on, and I got angry about it. But instead of tryin’ tae figure out why my behavior changed like that, and I didn’t want tae go tae church anymore, ye just figured I was a bad kid.

“Ye wanna know why I didn’t come forward sooner? Because I was afraid. Not just fer me, but fer the other altar boys. I was afraid he’d move on tae them if I told or resisted, so I waited until he started tae lose interest in me and move on tae other boys tae tell ye. Ye didn’t put him in jail, so I put him in the ground.”

Oh, god, why did he confess to that? It wasn’t like his parents could do anything, and even if they did decide to tell the police, what were they gonna do? If he could evade VILE, he could definitely avoid some local law enforcement.

His mother gasped in horror. “That was you? I knew you were capable of some terrible things, but not murder. I don’t know why you told us that, but we will be informing the police.”

He couldn’t imagine what his mother’s reaction would be if she learned about what he did during his time with VILE, things much worse than killing some perverted priest.

“I’m leavin’!” Crowley exclaimed, tossing all the money from his wallet to the floor. “This should cover anythin’ I broke. I got what I needed and ye’ll never see me again. Don’t expect the cops tae catch me, I’ve got worse folks lookin’ fer my arse.”

Crowley gathered up the items he had found in his childhood bedroom, and walked out, slamming the apartment door on his way out. His parents did nothing, watching him leave in silence like they had done sixteen years ago. But this time he knew he wouldn’t be back, this time he had closure and could finally move on with his life.

The main thing Dr. Llyewlyn missed about being stuck at the hospital and not getting his annual vacation, was that Wales actually had a landscape worth painting. He assumed Switzerland did have a decent landscape in parts, but he could never tell since the fog never seemed to clear off the damn mountain.

Dr. Llyewlyn was a landscape-and occasionally portrait-painter. The former VILE island gave him many opportunities to use his talents, and the new VILE base in Scotland probably would as well (if they ever got around to moving him there), but the hospital had nothing for him. Unless he wanted to paint sad, gray architecture and muddy snow, he was stuck working from photos or memories.

Seeing as he had painted his hometown from memory and old photographs extensively, Dr. Llyewlyn decided he would paint what the place looked like now, based off images he was able to find online. The dentist hadn’t returned to the town since graduating dentistry school (he had purposely chosen a school in England, knowing his parents wouldn’t be able to afford to transport him back for most breaks, meaning he could keep his time in the town as minimal as possible), and had no plans to; there was nothing there for him.

His father had passed about nine years back (not that he would have wanted to see the man, anyways), but his mother was still living there as far as he knew. Most of his siblings had moved away or died, and he hadn’t really had any friends growing up. The farm he grew up on was still there, but the life it used to have had faded.

With the printed pictures taped to his wall, his painting supplies out of his desk, and a blank canvas on his easel, Dr. Llyewlyn was almost ready to paint. He always drank when he painted, but rarely painted while high on nitrous, and had never actually painted while drunk and high. He had experimented with mixing alcohol and nitrous before, and knew the high risks that type of drug abuse carried, but figured that this was probably the safest place to do it, seeing as he was close enough to a large number of doctors if anything went wrong.

After a few shots of whiskey and a generous hit of nitrous, Dr. Llyewlyn decided he was ready to paint. But as he reached for his brush, he suddenly collapsed, barely missing the desk on the way down.

Dr. Llyewlyn was smart enough to tell that none of this was real, despite how vivid it may be. What he didn’t know, however, was if he had passed out and was dreaming, or just hallucinating, either of which was most certainly an effect of his substance use. When he felt grass beneath his feet, and saw the Welsh countryside in the distance, he decided he was dreaming.

As far as he could tell, he was back at his family’s farm, the way it looked from his childhood. He could hear the sheep, and his mothing singing an old Welsh folk song as she kept watch over the flock. As far as drug-fueled vivid dreams normally went, this one wasn’t too bad.

As he ran to go see his mother, he was suddenly stopped by his father. The man’s expression was one of pure rage, as he screamed at him for what he had been caught doing with the preacher’s son.

Dr. Llyewlyn had discovered that he liked men at a young age in a highly religious town in the 1970’s, and when he had been caught kissing the preacher’s son, having already been considered the weird kid, he was quickly labeled the town pariah. The only way he was able to gain any sort of acceptance back into the town was to convince everyone he had been ‘cured’ by the power of prayer and religion, until he left for good.

As his father screamed at him, calling his actions disgusting and sinful, all he could do was stand there and take it. Right now, he wasn’t a grown man and the most successful of his siblings, no he was just a scared twelve-year-old who was confused about everything. Finally, his father stopped screaming, and slapped him so hard he fell to the ground as everything faded.

Suddenly he was back in 1983, having graduated dental school and moved to the west coast of the United States. He was in a more accepting environment now and had quickly found a job at a large dental practice thanks to his skills, and he finally had a group of people he called friends. But his life was anything but perfect.

The 80’s was not a great time to be a gay or bisexual man in San Francisco, and he had seen countless members of his friend group fade away from a slow and painful death from a disease which they didn’t really understand and the government seemed so unconcerned about.

Dr. Llyewlyn would never forget the faces of his dying friends as he visited them in the hospital. Thin, pale, corpse-like, but still happy to see him. Almost all of them had been completely abandoned by their families, and as fear and infection grew less and less friends came to see them.

He found himself laying on his old bed, having come home from work early after the hospital had called the dental clinic to inform him that the man he considered to be his best friend had just died of AIDs-related complications. His roommate, a young lesbian who waited tables, was still at work so he was utterly alone with nobody to talk to.

Dr. Llyewlyn spent most of his time worried that he would be next. He had gone to the same clubs with his friends, partook in all the wonderful drugs the 80’s had to offer, and had plenty of unprotected sex with both men and women, and yet he was the lucky one to somehow remain healthy. As this went on, his depression only seemed to worsen, to the point where the pills stopped working, and he was starting to wonder if living was really worth it.

The bottle of antidepressants was still sitting on his bedside table, despite the fact that he had given up taking them at that point. He knew this was a dream and that whatever he did wouldn’t affect him physically, but Dr. Llyewlyn didn’t want to relive one of the most horrid experiences of his life. He had always assumed dying of an overdose would we a quick and painless way to go, until he actually tried it.

As much as he tried to resist, his hands still reached for the bottle of pills and the glass of water on his bedside table. As much as he tried to avoid and repress them, these terrible memories were still part of his past, and he would have to go through this the way it happened. Dr. Llyewlyn hoped he would be able to wake up soon so this horrible nightmare would be over.

As soon as he swallowed a handful of the pills and washed them down with a sip of water, everything went dark again.

Despite the fact that their superior was technically on vacation, Undertaker and Bloatfly still had to work. While they didn’t have the education or expertise Dr. Llyewlyn had, they had still been trained well enough by the dentist to be able to assist him with appointments or even take care of basic cleanings and other simple appointments in his absence.

“Gwil didn’t seem too upset about having to miss his vacation, more annoyed than anything.” Undertaker told her sister as they were heading back to their apartment after a long day of work. “But I mean, you can never tell with that guy; he tends to mask things really well.”

The two sisters hadn’t fought since the incident with Crowley due to Dr. Llyewlyn having asked them to refrain causing trouble with all the current stress everyone was under. There was no tension between the two women, however, while they had dealt with their share of arguments, they had always been able to solve things without it turning violent. It was almost as if they were back at an earlier point before the fighting had started, back before they went on the lam as mere teens.

Neither sister really knew _why _they fought so much or had made attempts on each other’s lives before. They didn’t hate each other; they actually care about each other quite a bit. Maybe the violence was more of a coping mechanism for the sisters, perhaps they needed to know that if their own life was threatened, they might actually be able to kill the other in order to save themselves, much like Undertaker was forced to do to their mother so many years earlier.

“Its probably a good idea for us to at least check on him if he’s locked up in his room when we get back.” Said Bloatfly. “Especially with his drinking history.”

Finding Dr. Llyewlyn’s door shut, and the rest of the apartment dark, the sisters decided they should investigate.

Undertake knocked on the door. “Gwil, we’re back. How was your last day of vacation? Its kinda shitty that they made you stay here and only gave you a couple of days, but at least you got a break from having to deal with Vess.”

No response.

“You alive in there, Gwil?” Called Bloatfly.

Again, no response.

“Well, I guess we have to go in there and check on him.” She told her sister.

Dr. Llyewlyn’s door was unlocked, but that wasn’t unusual. All four of them regularly left their bedroom doors unlocked, and the general understanding was that you didn’t enter someone else’s room without knocking first, unless there was some sort of emergency.

They found the dentist passed out on the floor next to his desk and easel. Undertaker nudged him with her foot, and he groaned, but didn’t move.

She turned to her sister. “Well, at least we know he’s not dead, probably just drunk.”

“And high on nitrous, I assume.” Said Bloatfly, motioning to the canister. “I know he’s aware combining nitrous and alcohol could kill him, but that hasn’t stopped him yet. Considering he always seems to do it when nobody else will be home, and hasn’t died of an overdose yet, I think he does at least have some semblance of an idea of what he’s doing.”

“So, should we, like, get Dr. Vess or something?”

Bloatfly shook her head. “Oh, fuck no. We are not dealing with that asshole any more than we need to right now. He clearly hasn’t overdosed, so we can probably just leave him hear and check in on him occasionally. He won’t die but will probably wish he did once he wakes up with that monster of a hangover.”

“Works for me.” Said Undertaker, turning the dentist on his side.

Dash just didn’t understand why Zack was so hyped for Halloween. They were literally spending the holiday in the base, and Dash had only decorated and made costumes in order to show off his skills in design and sewing (he had some ideas for the base, and was hoping Team Red might be willing to let him take a crack at a redesign). But, if Zack wanted to get so involved with this stupid holiday, Dash decided he’d join him.

Zack had purchased more candy than Dash had probably eaten in his entire time at VILE, and found all of his favorite horror movies on their streaming services, pirating the few they didn’t have. After setting up what he called, “The most epic Halloween movie night in the history of the world,” Zack had everyone come downstairs to eat candy and watch the movies he had selected.

Dash had never been a fan of horror movies, not because they scared him or the gore was too much for him (he’d seen plenty of worse things working for VILE), but because they were so unrealistic. He’d seen lots of violent deaths working for VILE-even participating in a few-and he was pretty sure none of these Hollywood directors had actually seen a real decapitation, or witness somebody fall sixteen stories to their death. Shadow-San seemed to share his sentiment, choosing to read a book instead of actually paying attention to the screen.

Despite not wanting to watch the movie, or having any interest in the pile of candy, Dash didn’t get up and leave. Team Red was finally starting to accept him, and he wasn’t about to ruin it.

Le Chevre was now certain they they’d bought far too much Halloween candy. Because of how far apart the houses were in such a rural area, they’d only had the children of the nearest neighbors come over at the start of the night, and it had been over an hour since then, with no signs of anyone else coming.

“_Mon Chou_, I do not think trick-or-treating is a big thing here; the children would not be able to walk so far.” He told El Topo. “Maybe we should turn off the porch light and go inside for the night.”

El Topo looked a bit sad. “_Si_, I think you are right. I was looking forward to my first Halloween here in America, but it hasn’t been too great. I do not understand why Bobcat had so many Halloween decorations if nobody ever came to see them.”

“Maybe she just liked to decorate.” He suggested. “Bobcat was a strange person, perhaps she was just festive. How about we go inside now? We can watch a Halloween movie on the computer.”

“Nothing too scary?”

Le Chevre nodded. “Nothing too scary.”

Neal was a bit startled when he opened his door to see Blue Jay wearing a creepy Halloween mask. She was carrying a small bag of Halloween candy and what appeared to be a few rented Halloween films.

“Halloween isn’t really a thing around here, Chickadee.” He told her. “They just sell that crap to the Americans to make a quick buck; nobody around here buys it until November when its marked down on clearance.”

“Yeah, I know that.” Replied Blue Jay. “I just always really enjoyed Halloween when I was a kid and want to share that with you. My parents didn’t like me having a lot of sugar as a kid, so I only really got sweets on Halloween, Christmas, _Seollal_, Children’s day, _Chuseok_, and Easter, and never a lot unless I saw my grandparents. I figured we could watch a few Halloween movies, have some candy, and just spend some time together.”

Neal looked over the selection of horror movies Blue Jay had picked out. All of them were the type of almost comically violent horror movie he loved, but none of his friends were a fan of.

He shrugged. “Sounds like a good enough evening to me.”

Lonestar wasn’t too keen on his friends leaving to go back to America while he was stuck at this creepy hospital with a doctor who was known to have killed a few of his patients completely on purpose, but it wasn’t like they had any choice in the matter. VILE didn’t want their operatives to be off work when they didn’t need to be, and had Nighthawk not been working guard duty at the time, they probably wouldn’t have learned of his upcoming operation until long after the fact. In fact, it was likely the only reason he actually got to have his friends visit was because of how much Coach Brunt adored him.

Before the procedure, Lonestar had been informed that the recovery time for brain surgery-even a less invasive procedure as the one he would be going through-would have a long recovery time and he would likely spend months at the hospital, even if there were zero complications.

The surgery wouldn’t restore his brain to the point before his injury, that was impossible, especially considering that VILE only opted to hire one brain surgeon to work alongside Dr. Vess for the operation. If everything went right, however, he wouldn’t have to worry about another seizure occurring, and he would slightly regain some the cognitive abilities lost, so there would at least be some improvement in his quality of life.

In most instances, an operative with his type of injury and needing such an expensive surgery would have been mindwiped and disposed of by now, but Lonestar had the benefit of being Brunt’s favorite operative to keep him out of trouble.

Data knew that Crowley was getting annoyed with her lack of what he considered to be good progress, but there was nothing she could do. They knew exactly where VILE’s base and a lot of their other important location were, but even Crowley knew that attacking them head on with their miniscule team would be suicide. They needed some lucky break to wear down VILE and hopefully get a few more operatives on their side, but that simply hadn’t happened yet.

Just as she was about to conclude her search for the day, an alert pinged, letter her know that one of her high priority search terms had picked up a match in a new file. It was time for Cookie Booker to hand off the hard drive containing VILE’s finances, and as a precaution to keep Carmen Sandiego from possibly stalking Booker in order to find the location of VILE’s new headquarters, the exchange would be done at a to be determined location in Italy.

Data almost cried out in joy. That hard drive contained information that had not been added to the VILE mainframe yet, meaning it was things she didn’t already have access to. Not only that, but VILE would have to organize a second handoff for the backup hard drive, meaning she would have a head start. In excitement, she called Crowley.

He answered the phone with a yawn. _“Why’d ye have tae call so early in the mornin’; I was sleepin’.”_

Data checked her watch. “What are you talking about, Alistair? Its just past eight in the morning in Scotland right now, I’d hardly consider that to be too early to call.”

_“Ye know I don’t like tae get up before ten if I don’t needty. If yer callin’ so early, ye must have somethin’ important tae tell me.”_

“Oh, its very important.” She told him. “You know how Cookie Booker needs to hand off the hard drive to VILE every year? Well, that time is coming up again.”

_“Aye, but I don’t understand how that’s important tae us.”_

“The information on that hard drive has yet to be entered in the system, and a lot of it is about upcoming heists.” Explained Data. “This may finally be our key to causing some real damage to VILE. Besides, if we take this one, they’ll have to set up another handoff in order to get the backup, slowing them down and causing more issues.”

Crowley seemed to finally be fully awake. _“Guess we’re in business.” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm aiming to have the next chapter out in about two weeks, but no promises.  
Dr. Vess belongs to Violetfic  
As always, if you enjoyed, please leave a review.


	22. The First Strike

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crowley let's VILE know he's not down for the count.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning for this one: Violence, animal death

As soon as Crowley got off the phone with Data, Crowley knew that the first thing he needed to do was share the good news with everyone else. He got up from the fold-out couch and sprinted into the adjacent kitchen where Moose Boy and Otter Man were having breakfast.

“I just got off the phone with Heidi, and I have wonderful news fer ya.” He shouted. “The hard drive handoff with Booker is gonna happen soon, and not at the headquarters this time, but in Italy. Its gonna be takin’ place rather soon, so we’ll be flyin’ out in a day or two.”

Both Swedes seemed unenthused.

“So? That happens every year.” Replied Otter Man. “They don’t trust anyone else but Cookie Booker with that information, so it’s a little odd that they’re not having her deliver the hard drive personally, but its not too big of a deal.”

“Isn’t that information just going to be added to the database, anyways?” Added Moose Boy. “Wouldn’t it make more sense for us to wait until Heidi has access to it?”

“Aye, that’s what I figured at first, too.” He told them. “But Heidi explained why we need tae take it. Not only will it give us a head start against VILE, but they will have tae organize a second handoff fer the backup. It also takes off a lot of the suspicion the Head Faculty may have about us havin’ someone on the inside. Instead they’ll think we’re just workin’ with Carmen Sandiego, and stealin’ the hard drive was her plan and that she was the one tae find out about the handoff.”

While they knew it was unlikely for VILE to consider Data as a possible mole at this point in time due to her trusting and loyal nature, it was definitely a possibility that they would figure out who the traitor on the inside was if Crowley and the others only relied on information they could’ve only acquired from Data.

None of them knew what would possibly happen if Data was found out, but they all knew it wouldn’t be good. Sargent Schlachten cared greatly for Data, but she had proved herself to be loyal to VILE above all else, so there was really no telling what she would do if she found out her girlfriend was a traitor. Even if this heist proved to yield no important leads, it would at least alleviate the Head Faculty’s suspicion of Data.

“I’m gonna go tell Shawna!” Announced Crowley. “Then I’m gonna call Carmen Sandiego!”

“First off, it would be pretty rude to call anyone in California at this time of day, considering how early in the morning it is over there.” Replied Otter Man. “Second, before you go over to Shawna’s, you might want to put on some pants.”

In his excitement, Crowley had pretty much forgotten that he slept in his boxers (Moose Boy and Otter Man had both seen him fully nude on multiple occasions, so it wasn’t like he had anything to hide). Of course, considering the type of people living in the building, it was unlikely anyone would give a man wearing only his boxers and an undershirt so much as a second glance.

“Alright! First pants, then I go talk tae Shawna, and I call them later!”

Upon waking up that evening, Dr. Llyewlyn instantly regretted his earlier actions. The nitrous make the hangover he would’ve already been dealing with even worse, and the nightmares he experienced while under the influence still hadn’t faded from his mind. It was about seven in the evening according to his clock, but since he didn’t remember when he passed out, he had no way of knowing how long he was out for.

He sat up with a groan, and upon spotting the empty canvas on his easel, realized he’d wasted his entire day off. There was always something much more satisfying about working on a piece for a long time all at once, instead of the shorts bursts of painting he usually only had time for, and he had ruined what was probably his only chance of doing just that for the entire yeah.

Clutching his head, Dr. Llyewlyn headed into the kitchen for some water, hoping Undertaker and Bloatfly wouldn’t get into any loud arguments that night (their constant physical fighting had transformed into constant bickering due to everyone in the hospital being on thin ice since the Crowley incident, even if they were in no way involved). To his relief, the two sisters seemed to be playing some sort of cooperative shooter game on the Playstation. They didn’t seem to notice when he walked through on his way to the kitchen, being too absorbed in their game.

After grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge and drinking half of it in the span of a couple of minutes, Dr. Llyewlyn headed back to the small living room space to talk to the two women.

“You know, you two could have checked on me to make sure I wasn’t dead.” He told them. “I don’t know when you got home, or exactly how long I was out for, but I do know there was at least an hour of overlap where you were home and I was unconscious in my room.”

“Don’t worry; we checked on you.” Replied Undertaker, not taking her eyes from the TV screen. “You didn’t look like you were going to die, so we just left you there.”

“We finished up around five today since we only had a few patients and checked on you immediately when we got home.” Added Bloatfly. “We were trying to check on you every ten minutes or so, but I guess we got distracted and forgot. But honestly, Gwil, did you really think we were going to let you escape working for VILE like that why we were still stuck here?”

Dr. Llyewlyn gave a light chuckle. “I guess you wouldn’t. Did anything of interest happen today? Even if I hadn’t spent have the day blacked out on nitrous and whiskey, I still would’ve missed it.”

“Oh, nothing too out of the ordinary.” Said Bloatfly, pausing the game, much to Undertaker’s annoyance. “Quick question; is Dr. Vess allowed to fire people?”

“Well, he certainly doesn’t have the authority to fire us.” Replied the dentist. “He is technically my boss, but since I was hired directly by the Head Faculty a long time before he was put in charge, he would have to have an excellent reason to get rid of me, and would have to plead my termination to the Head Faculty, which we all know he doesn’t have the time or energy to do. And since I’m your direct supervisor, unless you were to be captured or turn against VILE, I get a say in your termination. The only one I’m not sure about is Jeong-Suk, but she’s good enough at her job for Vess to keep her around.”

“I don’t mean us; I mean like nurses and those kinds of employees.” She explained. “I heard him scream at a nurse that she was fired. I have no idea what she actually did, but it had to have been a pretty serious fuck up.”

He shrugged. “Oh, probably. I mean, I haven’t seen him do it before, but it wouldn’t surprise me. VILE employees don’t exactly have a union, so they can pretty much get fired for whatever.”

“Am I really going to have to sit here and listen to you two talk all night?” Complained Undertaker. “I don’t mind quitting this game and finding one that’s three players, but I actually want to play something.”

Dr. Llyewlyn knew he wasn’t going to get around to doing any painting that evening, so what harm would playing some video games with the girls be? “Alright, sounds good to me. I haven’t played any games in a while, so I may be a bit rusty, but I’m sure I’ll get back into it.”

Crowley was going insane waiting for it to be late enough for him to make the call to Carmen to tell her the good news, but figured that patience was a step in the right direction for becoming a better person. The old Crowley would have called the second he heard the news; time zones be damned. But the new Crowley was actively trying to see things from other people’s perspectives and know that they wouldn’t enjoy being woken up in the middle of the night for something that could, in fact, wait until morning.

It was five in the evening Glasgow time (or nine in the morning San Diego time), when he figured it would be appropriate to contact Carmen. She didn’t seem like a late sleeper and should probably be up at this point. Since it would be easiest to get everyone involved via computer, he decided to initiate a video call, sending a call request not only to Team Red, but to El Topo and Le Chevre as well. Since Moose Boy, Otter Man, and Shawna were already aware of what was going on, he saw no point involving them in the video call.

Carmen accepted his video call request quickly, and El Topo and Le Chevre joined soon after.

Crowley didn’t even bother with a proper greeting before getting down to business. “We finally got a decent lead. VILE’s gonna do their yearly data upload from Cookie Booker’s hard drive, and we’re gonna steal it.”

Like everyone else after having first heard this information, Le Chevre seemed unconcerned. “They do that every year, but I do not see how it concerns us.”

“Ye do realize the impact it had the last two times Carmen stole them, right? Or did VILE not bother tae tell ye anything?”

“I only stole one of them, Shadow-San took the other.” Admitted Carmen. “But your point still stands; stealing that hard drive would really help us in our fight against VILE.”

“It doesn’t matter which one of ye stole it in the first place, all that matters is that we’re gonna steal it now.” Said Crowley. “According tae Heidi, there’s a lot of information on that thing that has yet tae be put in VILE’s database, a lot of it is about their bigger heists. Not only with this information give us a head start, but VILE will have tae organize a second exchange tae get the new hard drive causing them even more problems.”

“It is far too risky.” Said Shadow-San. “I know nothing of VILE’s new base, and seeing as we are all traitors, we would have no reason to be there and would likely be murdered on site. This would be a suicide mission, and even if you are willing to rush into things like that, Crowley, the rest of us are more concerned with personal safety.”

“Even I’m not stupid enough tae try and fight VILE head on like that.” He replied. “If they were gonna do this the usual way, I would’ve never even brought it up, but they’re not havin’ her come tae the headquarters out of fear Carmen Sandiego may follow her. Instead they’re doin’ a handoff in Italy. Heidi said she’d get back tae me as soon as more details are available, but fer now I need ye tae keep yer schedule open.”

Shadow-San narrowed his eyes. “You know we still don’t fully trust you. How can we tell this isn’t some sort of elaborate trap? For all we know, you could have faked your entire escape from VILE and still be working with them.”

Crowley almost laughed. “Do ye really think I could keep up a lie like that fer this long? If I was really double crossin’ ye, I woulda fooked up by now. I can lie plenty fine, but ye know I’m far too emotionally driven tae keep somethin’ like this up fer so long. If ye still don’t think I’m tellin’ the truth give Heidi a call.”

Shadow-San still wasn’t completely convinced. “I will be doing that.”

From when she first arrived Nighthawk had made an attempt to befriend some of the doctors and nurses at the hospital. This was not out of loneliness, but out of the possibility of a strategic advantage. If they didn’t just see her as a faceless guard, they would be more likely to share information with her. Recently, with what was going on with Lonestar, her efforts had finally paid off.

Nighthawk was worried about her friend after he had been in surgery for over a day (she had no idea how long brain surgery was supposed to take, and thus couldn’t tell if this amount of time was normal), and when he was finally moved to a post-op room, she wasn’t about to go and ask Dr. Vess if things were successful. Luckily, one of the nurses she had managed to befriend had been assisting the surgery, so she could ask him instead.

The nurse in question happened to be the younger brother of a VILE operative, thus how he managed to land the job in the first place. Despite having more connections to the organization as a whole than the average member of the hospital’s staff, he still had very little knowledge of the truth about VILE. As far as Nighthawk could tell, he thought that VILE was just a multi-national company with its hands in many pots, including the field of medicine.

“Jamie!” She called when she spotted him. “You were assisting in my friend’s surgery, and I need you to tell me if everything went alright.”

“Oh, hi Kaia.” He said with a yawn. “That was the longest surgery I ever assisted with. I’m no doctor, but as far as I can tell things went according to plan. We were prepared for a lot of complications, but none of them occurred. The patient was in very good health before the surgery, so I would assume his risks for any further complications are low, but you’d have to ask Dr. Vess for any specifics.”

Nighthawk was definitely not going to talk to Dr. Vess, especially since this was a good enough confirmation for her.

“Thank you, Jamie, I will see you around.”

Although the handoff wasn’t scheduled for a few days, Team Red and Crowley’s gang (with the exception of Shawna who had other business to attend to) headed to Florence, Italy where it would all take place. Data was able to pinpoint the exact time and location where the handoff would take place, meaning they had time to scout out the location and prepare.

The one thing she couldn’t figure out, however, was what operatives VILE would be sending. The message did state, however, that the handoff was to take place in a way that would not attract much attention, lest Carmen Sandiego figure out about it, so Data assumed that meant they’d just be dealing with a few operatives who specified in either classic stealth or blending into a crowd.

Crowley had been warned multiple times by both Data and Shadow-San that when the heist actually occurred, he was not to draw attention to himself or the rest of the group with his usual methods of dealing with his enemies. No matter how many times Crowley tried to explain that he had realized that his violence was the root to so many of his problems and he was going to change that, nobody really believed him. Of course, he didn’t really blame them for that.

In all honesty, he had no idea how he even passed Stealth 101 back at VILE academy in the first place, as the whole concept wasn’t in his nature. He always figured the rest of the Head Faculty just forced Shadow-San to pass him. Crowley wasn’t known to lurk in shadows, preferring to take on opponents head on, even if they were stronger than him, and a large number actually backed down due to his apparent lack of fear for his life. Crowley had even lit Shadow-San’s coat on fire during his final, instead of employing genuine stealth like his instructor had wanted.

Crowley, Shadow-San, and Carmen-all in disguise, of course-had all scoped out the location of the handoff on their own before the date of the heist. The location of the handoff was in an alleyway near the Basilica in the wee hours of the morning. Not only did the location supply many good hiding spots, but it the twisting and turning streets would allow them to lose the operatives quickly, and multiple escape routes had already been planned and memorized.

It was determined that their best plan would be having Crowley, Carmen, and Shadow-San take on the VILE operatives with Zack as their getaway driver if needed (Ivy had stayed back in San Diego with Dash). Due to wanting to take any suspicion of Data being involved in any way away, Player would be the only one providing electronic backup. Moose Boy and Otter Man would be close by if they needed backup, but due to Moose Boy’s lack of stealth skills, and Otter Man’s poor vision, it was decided that having them be more closely involved would do more harm than good.

Since they had time before the heist, they decided to try and actually enjoy themselves in the city for the few days they had, but not Crowley. Instead he obsessed over every fine detail of the plan, going back and forth to make sure they hadn’t overlooked a single factor. He wanted badly to see some action and wasn’t going to let this opportunity slip by.

He was like a predator, Carmen noted. Normally he liked to strike his prey quickly and viciously, but when the situation called for it, he could be patient and calculating. Had he learned to better suppress his natural rage, he could have been an even better VILE operative, but he could only be this calm when he lacked any sort of emotional response to the work he was doing. She wasn’t as afraid of him when he was like this but knew he could snap at any moment under the right circumstances.

Blue Jay was awoken by her communicator’s alarm, just like she was every morning. She had always been an early riser, and enjoyed her early morning runs, especially now when it was nearing summer in New Zealand and temperatures were on the rise. Most days, if she didn’t get up at six, she wouldn’t be able to get a run in before the heat was too much.

Neal was still asleep next to her, most nights she slept over at his place. She knew relationships between VILE operatives were technically forbidden, but there were quite a few more obvious couples she knew of, and since they hadn’t let their relationships get in the way, the Head Faculty hadn’t bothered to do anything to them, so why would it be any different for her a Neal? Besides, she was doing exactly what she had been asked to do; keep a close eye on Neal.

Despite the fact that they went to bed around the same time, Blue Jay always woke up an hour or two earlier than Neal. She had never been the type of person who needed a lot of sleep and would be perfectly fine on five or six hours’ worth, even with her active lifestyle. She always chalked this up to either genetics or her healthy diet. She hadn’t needed a full eight hours since the last time she’d gotten sick, and that was over a year ago.

As she looked back at Neal, Blue Jay couldn’t help but feel a little bad about her actions. Neal had no idea that she was keeping tabs on him, nor that three of his close friends had turned against VILE. She truly did like him, however, but worried he would think she was lying about that, too. She was by no means a model, but was young and fairly good-looking, enough to seduce a fair number of men if she so desired.

Blue Jay knew Neal would probably understand if he were to find out. He was generally a calm and collected guy and had been with VILE long enough to understand how things worked. But still, she hadn’t been with him for too long, and didn’t know how he reacted to everything. She wanted to explain what was going on before he found out and got the wrong idea, but that would jeopardize her entire assignment. She had to choose between Neal and VILE, and right now she had to side with VILE.

Doing what amounted to not much more than paperwork and busywork that could have been done by any lowly lab technician was a waste of his experience, Dr. Llyewlyn had decided, and he didn’t understand why Dr. Vess decided that he’d be the best one to assign to the task. After all, even the average operative could be assigned to this type of task if needed.

Dr. Llyewlyn figured this decision may have had something to do with the doctor’s constant demands for perfection in his work and the work of his subordinates. The medical field offered little room for error, as oftentimes a person’s life was at stake, and a little slipup could end in death. This need for perfection also went beyond the medical procedures themselves, as even a simple mistake in paperwork could lead to the death of a patient due to the staff not receiving the correct instructions for the patients care. As a dentist if Dr. Llyewlyn screwed up bad enough, he could take somebodies life, but he never had to deal with bringing someone back from the brink of death, and thus had never lost a patient.

Or perhaps it could have been because Dr. Llyewlyn already knew about a lot of the fucked-up things VILE was doing, and honestly didn’t care anymore. There was nothing he could do to stop the terrible things that VILE was doing, so it was easier to just do what he was told in order to keep all his privileges intact. VILE would still be conducting cruel animal experiments, testing on their own operatives, and using biological and environmental warfare to get what they wanted, whether he helped or not. It made no difference if he was the one helping with the research or if it was someone else.

Bobcat had never been trusted to help with any of these types of experiments when she was a part of VILE, as Dr. Vess and Dr. Bellum, along with their predecessors, had agreed that while her skillset was perfect for that type of work, her personality meant she couldn’t be assigned to assist in a lot of VILE’s experiments (and seeing how good she was with a lot of more problematic patients, there were better uses for her when she was not away on assignments).

Dr. Llyewlyn highly doubted Bobcat even _knew _about a lot of the things VILE was doing. She was an outspoken hippy and former ecoterrorist, and shit would have hit the fan if she were ever to find out a lot of things about the people she was working with. Sure, she had no issue with taking lives (her body count was likely in the hundreds by the time she left VILE), but there were certain lines she just didn’t like to see crossed, and seeing how she hadn’t made an attempt on Dr. Vess and Dr. Bellum’s lives meant she probably knew a lot less than she’d thought.

Dr. Llyewlyn did not like Vess, and his sentiment was probably shared with most, if not all of the hospital staff. Dr. Vess was a smart man and good at what he did but was a complete sociopath and seemed to see people more as things he could exploit. Dr. Llyewlyn and Bobcat had both made attempts to get to know the younger man better and try to develop some sort of semblance of friendship with him, but he never stopped treating them coldly.

Much like the rest of VILE Dr. Sofferenza, VILE’s former head doctor and surgeon, was by no means a good person. He had been a mafia doctor for many years before joining VILE, and according to rumors, had gotten that position by purposely poisoning a high-ranking member in order to revive them and be a hero. A lot of the experimentation had taken place directly under his leadership, and Dr. Icarus-Dr. Bellum’s predecessor-had put a lot of trust in him.

But unlike Dr. Vess, Dr. Sofferenza had actually cared about his subordinates and treated them like family. Dr. Llyewlyn’s overall mood had always been better working under the original doctor, and he didn’t drink or use drugs as much back then, only doing it to have fun occasionally, rather than using it like a coping mechanism to deal with all his negative emotions. Dr. Sofferenza had always been passionate about his work, but never stopped caring about and appreciating the other people that made it possible.

He was like a father figure to many, especially Dr. Llyewlyn, Undertaker, and Bloatfly, and to an extent, Vampire Bat. Dr. Llyewlyn hadn’t grown up with a very good father figure in his life (even his mother didn’t like his father, having been forced into a shotgun marriage with an older man after falling pregnant at eighteen), and the sisters had lost their father fairly young under tragic circumstances. Vampire Bat had never allowed herself to become too close to anyone, due to her cautious and untrusting nature, and even she managed to form a bond of sorts with the doctor.

At one point Dr. Sofferenza, had even bought Dr. Llyewlyn a pet white rat whom he named Isla. She had been a truly wonderful pet, sitting on his shoulder when he wasn’t working, or visiting other people she liked when he was. Little Isla had been popular even with those who generally didn’t like rodents due to her sweet personality.

She was given to him not long before Dr. Vess was brought to the island and lived barely over a year before being killed by the surgeon. Dr. Llyewlyn was upset by this, but initially wrote it off as a mistake. The island had a serious mouse problem, to the point where cats were actually brought in (they were kept mostly in the basement when Isla was there), and he assumed the surgeon had thought she was a wild pest, but it was Vess’s lack of remorse that bothered him the most.

Had the younger man simply said that it was an accident, and he didn’t know Isla was a pet, Dr. Llyewlyn would have eventually moved past it. Sure, he’d be upset at the loss of his pet, but he wouldn’t hold a grudge. Instead, Vess showed no remorse for his actions, claiming it made no sense to actually care about a dirty vermin and that he may have done a good thing by getting rid of Isla. That was the first time they got to see the doctor for the person he really was.

Initially, nobody had been made aware that Dr. Vess had been brought in to replace Dr. Sofferenza. It was assumed that VILE had decided to ad somebody with more knowledge of complex surgery to their medical staff and wanted a young prodigy to fill that role. Dr. Sofferenza was good at what he did, and while he could treat most battle wounds, his success rate for more complex surgeries was less than glowing. Everyone just figured that Dr. Vess would fill the role of surgeon and Dr. Sofferenza would remain as the head doctor.

In reality, Dr. Sofferenza was unknowingly training his replacement. VILE had decided that the doctor was getting too old to be of use and was no longer at the top of his game; he needed to be replaced with a newer model. And then one day, he was just gone. That was when the plan to replace him with Vess came to light. Dr. Llyewlyn was never informed of the fate of the former doctor, but he knew it involved mindwiping, or more likely for someone that old who had spent so much of their life with VILE, death.

Dr. Llyewlyn did have to give Dr. Vess credit for getting the place so well organized, however. Dr. Sofferenza didn’t care for computers, and his filing system was subpar, so a lot of important files ended up misplaced over the years. While nobody really seemed to care, this was extremely inefficient, and resulted in a lot of issues.

Everyone was initially annoyed with having to go through and file decades worth of paperwork that had been shoved away in random storage rooms, especially when this order was given by someone they considered to be young and inexperienced, but it ended up being for the best. The new system of organization was more efficient, and a great deal of the stored away paperwork had already been inputted into the digital database over the course of ten years, making it much easier to access and eliminating the need to keep physical copies.

Dr. Llyewlyn could deal with a little paperwork. After all, it had always been a requirement of his job. But this was just ridiculous. He had spent the last three days sorting through mountains of old paperwork, entering the information into VILE’s electronic database, and destroying the physical copies. The whole process was absolutely tedious, and he was certain very little-if any-of the information from these files from just over twenty years ago actually had any use today.

“Isn’t there anything else I could help you with?” He asked Vess the next time he saw the man. “My skillset is quite valuable, and I know I would be of much more use to you doing something besides filling out paperwork.”

“Well, there is something else I could assign you to, but it isn’t something you would like doing. In fact, I was warned against assigning you to do it without your consent by Dr. Bellum and Dr. Maelstrom. Dr. Maelstrom believes it would scar you, and Dr. Bellum doesn’t want to have to find another dentist, but it really would be more useful to me that having you sit here and do paperwork.”

Dr. Llyewlyn was desperate for a less tedious task and was just about ready to do anything. “What is it! I’m certain _anything _would be better than this.”

“You would be killing two groups of rats, cutting their heads open, and looking for specific differences in their brains that could be caused by their exposure to different levels of electricity.”

That wasn’t something the dentist believed he could actually bring himself to do. “Uh, never mind, paperwork is perfectly fine.”

“That’s exactly what I thought.”

Nothing made Otter Man feel more useless than being relegated to “backup”, and frankly he wasn’t even sure why Crowley had decided to bring them along to Italy if he and Moose Boy would just be spending the entire heist in a hotel room. He knew Shawna had plenty of money and didn’t really care about what they did with it, but surely it would have made sense to save the cost of the extra plane tickets.

He didn’t fault Crowley for leaving them out of the heist, it was the right decision to make. Moose Boy had never been too great at stealth, and if it hadn’t been for their class being reduced to exactly forty members before graduation due to general bad luck causing serious injuries, a few expulsions, a couple of students who decided to see how far they could push Crowley, and students voluntarily dropping out, he may not have even graduated. Moose Boy was certainly strong, but he lacked a lot of the other attributes of a good criminal and could never hope to be much more than dumb muscle.

Otter Man, on the other hand, had always been the brains of the duo. He was never the best fighter when it came to head on battles, but he was good at a lot of the other aspects of crime, like stealth and trickery. Unfortunately, after the accident five years ago, his sight had been severely reduced and had continued to worsen overtime to the point where he was now legally blind. VILE had likely only kept the two of them around so long due to their connections to more prominent operatives, figuring they could be used as motivation for Crowley, Data, and Neal if need be.

In his younger days, Otter Man could have definitely played a part in the heist, but now he was more of a liability than anything. He couldn’t see too well in the daytime, but night was a complete disaster for him, and he had trouble seeing two feet in front of his face after it got dark. He wouldn’t be able to help at all in a fight and was more likely to knock over something and alert the enemy to their presence than anything else.

Otter Man desperately wanted to be useful, but that was easier said than done. Even before the accident, he often wondered if he actually had an aptitude for crime or had simply ended up in VILE due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sure, he would have never met Moose Boy or any of his friends if he had stayed in his old life, but maybe that would’ve been for the best. That way, they at least wouldn’t constantly have to be burdened by him.

Crowley honestly hated stealth. He found it boring and felt it was for cowards that couldn’t take threats straight on. Of course, he wasn’t actually bad at stealth, just not a fan. His nature was to just go in with no regard for his own safety, but when the fate of the heist was at stake, and he had no other choice, he could certainly take a more stealth approach.

Shadow-San firmly believed that if Crowley could have learned to control his violent anger and honed his other abilities to become more of a well-rounded criminal, he would have certainly been considered as a possible fifth member of the Head Faculty when the chair had opened. Hell, he might have even beaten out Roundabout. Crowley lacked a lot of the connections the older man had, but he was certainly more well-liked by the Head Faculty.

As they remained hidden within the alleyway, it was no secret that Crowley was becoming impatient. The way he twitched like a caged dog about to be let into the fighting ring to tear another of its own species to bits was obvious to both Carmen and Shadow-San. But it was clear he was in this thing for the win, even if it meant fighting his every instinct.

“I know this goes against all of your natural instincts, but we are not here to kill.” Warned Shadow-San. “You are no longer part of VILE, and if you wish to stay on the path of good, you must suppress this urge to kill. Bobcat always saw a good person deep down inside you, and even after what you have done, she would still want you to try and be that person.”

It seemed everything he did somehow came back to Bobcat. When she first met him ten years ago, back when he was still a student, she had set out to change him, but it was only in death that she achieved that goal. For someone who had committed so many crimes, someone who killed so many people, she never stopped trying to see the good deep down inside people.

_You don’t have to be like this, honey_. She had told him after breaking up a fight he had gotten himself involved in (not his first fight, but the first she personally had dealt with). _I know you think everyone-including yourself-is inherently bad, but that’s not true. I have met very few people that I would consider to be evil through and through, and you’re not one of them. You’re not a bad person, sweetheart; you just do bad things._

At the time, Crowley hadn’t understood what she had meant. A bad person was someone who did bad things; simple as that. But now he finally got it. He was perfectly capable of doing good things and not hurting others, he simply chose not to. Instead of trying to make the world a better place, he had simply decided that all people were bad and wanted to hurt him, so he would make sure they knew what he was capable of. But he wasn’t protecting himself; he was just perpetuating a cycle of hurt. That was going to stop now.

Bobcat had seen past his façade of violence and rage, all the way down to the scared kid who just didn’t want to be hurt anymore. The more he tried to bury that part of himself, the more it fought back to escape. Bobcat always seemed so happy and well-adjusted, but now Crowley was starting to realize that she had a façade of her own. She used the drugs to numb the emotional pain, and the sex to deal with her inability to form real, meaningful relationships.

Crowley was snapped from his train of thought as two people stepped into the alleyway. He recognized them as Spinkick and Flytrap, two of the newest operatives. Either VILE was getting really desperate with the operatives they sent out on important assignments, or they already assumed that Crowley was in cahoots with Carmen Sandiego and decided it would be best to send out operatives with no possible connection to him.

This wasn’t out of fear that they would turn against VILE and join him, however; Crowley had few friends and was generally disliked. There were, however, a myriad of other reasons for this decision to happen. These two operatives likely knew nothing of Crowley’s fighting style and lack of fear when it came to facing even the toughest of enemies. They were less likely to run when he first appeared.

According to Data, VILE was also trying to keep the news of Crowley’s betrayal and escape on the down low. They didn’t want to start a panic about such an infamous operative being on the loose or give other operatives ideas of attempting escape. Spinkick and Flytrap had no idea who Crowley was, so there was no risk of them spreading the news.

Crowley knew nothing of these operatives other than the fact that they were rookies. He assumed from the name that Spinkick used his feet to fight but wasn’t sure about Flytrap. Upon initially learning their names, he had decided that the new operatives were getting lazy and uncreative with their codenames. Your codename was supposed to represent something about you, maybe your fighting style or an aspect of your past but were supposed to be clever. Spinkick was painfully simple and obvious, and Flytrap was just nonsensical.

As much as Crowley wanted to go out there right away and knock these two rookie operatives down a peg, that would completely jeopardize the heist. Not only would they lose the element of surprise, but Cookie Booker hadn’t even arrived yet with the hard drive. If Spinkick and Flytrap were to realize that they’d been set up, it was more than likely they’d send out a signal to Booker to flee, and another handoff would have to be organized, which would be a headache for everyone. Instead, Crowley was stuck just listening in, hoping he could maybe pick something of interest up from their casual conversation.

“VILE really seems to like sending us on errands, don’t they?” Complained Spinkick. “I was trained to fight, not pick up some stupid hard drive.”

Flytrap seemed to be paying little attention to her partner, instead focusing on scanning the alleyway for any potential threats. “You aren’t going to get to fight on every assignment, Alex; there is more to our jobs than that. This drop off is of high importance, and if we can pull it off, better assignments will surely come our way.”

He yawned, clearly bored. “I hope so. When do you think that Booker lady is gonna get here? I want to get pizza before we have to leave.”

Flytrap frowned. “You need to start taking our assignments more seriously, even the ones you consider to be boring.”

“Yeah, sure, I’ll do that, Elma.”

She rolled her eyes. “Why do I put up with you?”

“Simple; because you love me.”

A sly smile crept across her face. “Well, I guess I’m stuck with you, then. Hold on, my communicator says Booker is nearby and will be approaching us soon. Prepare yourself in case Carmen Sandiego decides to make an appearance.”

Spinkick took a fighting stance. “This time she won’t get away from us so easy.”

Crowley watched patiently from the shadow’s as Cookie Booker entered the alleyway. He wanted to go after her now, but he fought his instincts, waiting for Shadow-San’s signal. The older man had spent over half his life with VILE and was a master of stealth and timing. He knew exactly what he was doing by holding back.

“I haven’t seen you two operatives before; you must be new.” Cookie remarked as she approached. “You’re Spinkick and Flytrap, I presume.”

“Hey, just because we’re new, doesn’t mean we don’t know how to fight.” Said Spinkick.

Flytrap elbowed her partner, before turning back to the older woman. “Yes, that’s us. There are no signs of Carmen Sandiego around here, but I think we should do the handoff as soon as possible and get this thing to the safehouse just in case she is lurking around. If the Head Faculty weren’t worried about her getting involved, they would have just done this the usual way.”

Cookie gave a nod, pulling the hard drive from her coat. “VILE has been dealing with a lot of things lately, take great care with this.”

Just as she was about to pass the hard drive over to Flytrap, Shadow-San signaled to Carmen and Crowley, and all three of them jumped out from where they were hiding, startling the VILE operatives.

Cookie took one look at the new threat, shoved the hard drive into Flytrap’s hands, and took off running in the opposite direction.

“You two are on your own!” She yelled. “I’m an accountant, not a fighter!”

Crowley stared down the two operatives. “Its three against one, ye know. We wouldn’t fault ye for runnin’ away.”

Spinkick gave an amused chuckle. “We’ve faced worse odds. Carmen Sandiego is the only one of you I actually fear, otherwise we’ve just got someone who used to be valuable but is clearly past his prime. And as for you, I don’t have the slightest idea who you are. For all we know, you could just be some idiot they hired off the internet.”

Crowley gave a slight smile. “Ye really haven’t been with VILE long if ye don’t know who I am.”

Crowley was actually more frightening when he was in a calm state like this, giving off this sense of being in control. The contrast from his normal erratic behavior was terrifying and it was likely his natural emotional response could boil to the surface at any moment. Spinkick and Flytrap, however, seemed perfectly unaware of this.

“We get it, you’re one of Sandiego’s associates.” Said Flytrap. “We don’t care about some unskilled nobody, even if they have worked with her before. The point is, if VILE made no point of mentioning that you’d be there like they did with Shadow-San, then they don’t consider you a threat and we shouldn’t either.”

“If they didn’t warn ye about me, then they don’t know I’m here.” Crowley’s smirk grew to that of a housecat that had pinned a mouse and was deciding how to kill it. “That or they did know I’d be here and sent ye purposely because ye have no idea who I am. Last chance if ye wanna run.”

The two operatives weren’t backing down, so Crowley moved in closer. He could easily take down these two on his own if he needed to. But this time around, all that was required of him was to steal away the hard drive before they could run away with it.

“Remember Crowley, do not kill or cause permanent injury.” Warned Shadow-San. “You are no longer a part of VILE, and you need to act like it.”

Crowley’s fights often ended in bloodshed, but that didn’t mean he lacked the training to incapacitate someone without taking their life. He was quick to figure out how these young operatives ticked and realized that Spinkick was probably his best target. The younger man seemed like the faster of the two and would likely be the one expected to flee with the hard drive while Flytrap served as a diversion. Crowley knew there was no way he’d be able to catch up to Spinkick, but perhaps he could use the operative’s arrogance to his advantage.

“Ye know, I heard VILE’s trainin’ their new operatives tae be cowards, thinkin’ ye should run instead of actually fightin’. Back in my day, we use tae decimate our enemies, but I guess all the good fightin’ died when Shadow-San left. I’ll bet ye’ll be runnin’ off with that thing any second, instead of facin’ me like a man.”

This seemed to get Spinkick’s attention as he shot Crowley a glare.

“Change of plans, Elma.” He said, tossing her the hard drive. “You’re the runner and I’m the fighter.”

His partner gave him a look of disbelief. “You can’t be serious. I’m a better fighter, but you’re faster; you know this. Do you really want to jeopardize our assignment out of pride?”

“I’m not jeopardizing anything; I know I can take this guy down, and I need to show him that VILE aren’t a bunch of cowards, so he learns not to mess with us in the future.”

Flytrap rolled her eyes but began running. “If we fail this assignment it’s all on you.”

“We won’t fail!” He yelled after her.

Crowley turned to Shadow-San and Carmen. “Ye two go after her, I’ll take down this one.”

“Do not kill him.” Warned Shadow-San.

“Wasn’t plannin’ on it!”

Shadow-San narrowed his eyes. He knew Crowley’s track record and wasn’t too certain the younger man would be able to incapacitate Spinkick without some level of violence, but this wasn’t his decision to make. He gave a nod to Carmen, and both of them began to chase after Flytrap. Spinkick made no attempt to stop them, being too focused on Crowley.

“Looks like it’s just you and me.” Smirked Spinkick. “I shouldn’t have any issue just taking you down.”

Crowley looked around, still eerily calm. “Weren’t ye supposed tae stop all of us?”

The shorter man let out a growl of frustration, realizing he’d failed his one simple job. “Just for that, you’re not making it out of here alive.”

Crowley took a fighting stance. “Try me, ye little shit.”

Spinkick dove at him with anger, throwing kick after kick. Crowley had to admit, this guy was pretty fast. Of course, the older operative still had his great reflexes from year with VILE. But even though his reflexes were still perfect, his body had taken quite a toll from the fight with Bobcat and improper healing, and it wasn’t long before Spinkick managed a kick straight to his face. From the sound and pain, Crowley was certain his nose had just been broken (although this was far from the first time).

“Persistent thing, aren’t ye?” Said Crowley, wiping a bit of blood from his face. “Alright, I’m done playin’ games, let’s get this shite over with.”

Crowley quickly delivered a punch to the operative’s stomach. Not hard enough to cause any real damage, but enough to take him down for a few minutes. While Spinkick was on the ground Crowley quickly pulled a pair of handcuffs from his jacket, handcuffing the smaller man to a nearby poll.

“You asshole!” Shouted Spinkick, struggling against the cuffs. “Are you just going to leave me here like this?”

Crowley gave a slight chuckle. “Aye, my only other option would be tae kill ye, but I’ll bet ye prefer this, mate.”

With that, he casually walked off in the direction he saw the others run off to. He knew Carmen and Shadow-San could take care of Flytrap on their own, and he would look a lot more suspicious if he was running.

Crowley could hear Spinkick screaming profanities at him as he walked away, but he paid the operative no mind. Instead, he began to search his jacket for something to stop the bleeding, hoping he still had a pack of tissues stored away in one of the hidden pockets from the last time he had a cold. The only thing he found that would even remotely do the job was a piece of flame retardant fabric, the kind he used to clean accelerant from his skin and clothes. These little cloths were expensive and hard to come by, and seeing as this one didn’t reek of accelerant, it was clearly new, but it would have to do.

Having dealt with his share of broken noses before, Crowley could already tell this one wouldn’t be too bad. His nose wouldn’t have to be set, and judging by the comparatively low level of pain, he probably wouldn’t need any medical attention, and would just have to ice it a bit to minimalize swelling, as it took him no time at all to stop the bleeding. But since all operatives were trained in first aid, he decided he’d have Shadow-San take a look at it, just in case.

Just as he was about to give up locating the others and simply head back to the hotel, he suddenly got a message on his communicator from an unknown number. This was odd, as the communicators required a special sequence to be called in order to keep random numbers from calling up operatives, but Crowley remembered that he’d given Carmen the number and hadn’t saved her as a contact yet, so he didn’t hesitate to open it.

The message simply contained a rendezvous point and instructions to meet there. After scanning the email for any signs that it might actually be from VILE instead of Carmen, he decided it was legitimate and headed for the location.

By the time Crowley reached the rendezvous point, everyone else was already there. Carmen was holding the hard drive, and Zack had already pulled the getaway van to the curb, despite the fact that they didn’t end up needing it. Carmen and Shadow-San didn’t seem to be injured in a way, at least as far as he could tell.

“Sorry I’m late.” He said simple. “It ain’t easy runnin’ when ye got a metal rod grated into yer leg.”

“What happed to your nose?” Asked Carmen.

“Oh, that little shite Spinkick broke it.” Replied Crowley. “But we won’t have tae deal with him fer the rest of the night, I made sure of that much.”

Without warning, Crowley was suddenly slammed into the nearby wall by Shadow-San.

“What the hell is your problem?” Demanded the older man. “I told you not to harm the operatives, at least not badly. But as far as I can tell, you did just that. Why we trusted you in the first place in beyond me.”

“Get yer hands off me, he hurt me worse than I did him!” Shouted Crowley. “I cuffed the fooker tae a poll, he’s fine!”

Shadow-San released the younger man from his grip. “I apologize, but due to your track record, I ass-“

“Ye assumed I can’t deal with anythin’ without violence!” He interrupted. “I know I was a bad person, but I’m tryin’ tae change. Of course, it doesn’t help when people like ye assume the worst of me. See ye later, I’m goin’ fer a drink.”

He stumbled off in a random direction, hoping to find a decent pub that was still open at this hour. Crowley knew he could just drink at the hotel bar or even just get to work on the overpriced minibar, but he felt like he should probably spend some time away from everyone else before his temper got the best of him.

He wasn’t too mad that Shadow-San had assumed the worst of him, but the heat of the moment combined with still being fired up from the fight had set him off. It made sense that his old instructor would assume he’d killed somebody, after all, Crowley had assaulted his own friends before, and sent multiple operatives to the infirmary while still a student. He knew he’d been a terrible person, but he was trying to change. It just hurt to be reminded of all the thing’s he’d done.

Getting out of VILE was a step in the right direction, at least. Violence created violence and hate fueled hate. He had practically everything he wanted in that organization, but the complete trust of his friends was not one of them. VILE had ruined his life in a sense, and he was going to destroy it before it could do the same to other people.

The Head Faculty were more than a little upset when they’d found out about the handoff being so thoroughly ruined. The plan was to keep Carmen Sandiego from tracking Cookie and finding the location of VILE’s new base and informing the authorities, but they were wondering if it would have just been smarter to do things the usual way. After all, if Carmen’s hacker had found out about the handoff, what was stopping him from locating the base? At least if the handoff had occurred at the Headquarters there would have been a decent amount of backup around to prevent this.

Nobody faulted Cookie for running off, however. She really was just VILE’s accountant and her field training was minimal. The responsibility of this fell on the operatives assigned to the task, not Booker herself.

“We are very disappointed in you two.” Professor Maelstrom told the two operatives, whom the Head Faculty was communicating with via video chat. “You two seemed so promising as students, and yet you managed to fail such a simple assignment.”

“I apologize, professor, but its wasn’t completely our fault.” Said Flytrap. “As you are aware, Carmen Sandiego was able to find out about the handoff and interrupted it. I know many other operatives have gone up against her and failed, and had she not been there, we would have easily succeeded.”

“Shadow-San was there, too.” Added Spinkick. “And there was this other guy, I have no idea who he is. He was strong, he took me down fast. It was three against two.”

This piqued the interest of the Head Faculty, all of whom were now wondering if their fears had come true.

“And tell us, what did this strange man look like?” Asked Dr. Bellum. “We must know every detail you remember about him.”

Spinkick shrugged, he hadn’t exactly been focusing on his opponents face during the fight. “I don’t remember too much. He was kinda tall, had a bunch of scars, and limped a little. Oh yeah, and he had this really strong accent, but I’m not sure from where.”

“And can you describe this accent for us?” Asked Maelstrom.

“Well, he seemed to pronounce a lot of vowels oddly, especially with words like ‘you’ and ‘to’.” Replied the operative. “And with words that ended with the ‘-ing’ sound, he never pronounced the g.”

“Thank you for the information.” Said Maelstrom. “We will get back to you two about your next assignment, but for now you may return to headquarters.”

“Thank you, professor, we will not fail you next time.” Replied Flytrap.

With a nod, Maelstrom ended the call, and the two operatives disappeared from the large screen.

“So, that loose canon is working with Carmen Sandiego now.” Said Bellum. “This is not ideal.”

“No shit, it isn’t ideal.” Replied Brunt. “Crowley’s always been a danger to everyone around him, and in the past, he was at least on our side. Now we have to worry about him coming in here and torching the place at any second.”

“I don’t think he would be stupid enough to do that.” Said Countess Cleo. “And I doubt he even remembers were this place is, considering he’s only been once. Even if he does remember the location, he knows that he would be completely outnumbered due to the number of students and operatives here.”

“His behavior during this particular confrontation, at least as Spinkick has described it, is odd to say the least.” Added professor Maelstrom. “Crowley is certainly capable of killing or at least badly injuring a young and inexperienced operative-a am aware that as a student he had to be stopped before causing serious harm to his opponents on multiple occasions-but he did nothing of the sort, instead choosing to immobilize his opponent in a fairly harmless manor.

“In addition, the whole allying with Carmen Sandiego thing is extremely out of character for him. Crowley has always proven himself to be a lone wolf that doesn’t work well with others, and even if he did decide to choose an ally, I doubt it would be someone like Sandiego.”

“It a way, it does make sense.” Argued Bellum. “Carmen Sandiego is already trying to stop us, and if Crowley has decided he wants to stop us all well, why wouldn’t he team up with her? Without VILE backing him, he has very few resources, and would have to find someone to work alongside.”

“This might be just me, but I think figuring out how to deal with our Crowley problem might be more important than arguing about why he is now working with Carmen Sandiego.” Said Countess Cleo. “we initially thought he was somewhere in Europe, but considering how much Sandiego travels to stop us, and the fact that she is likely backing him financially, he could be anywhere. Considering his personality, it may not be long before he kills of a valuable operative, or even one of us.”

Brunt nodded in agreement. “I know we’ve been trying to take down Sandiego for so long, but I think we need to focus our efforts on dealing with Crowley first.”

“I do agree that it is certainly a pressing matter, I was simply pointing out how odd his behavior was.” Replied Maelstrom. “I will figure out a way to deal with him, but I need time.”

“And how do you plan to deal with him, dare I ask?” Asked Bellum. “You know, I have quite a few inventions in my arsenal that I feel would be perfect for dealing someone like him.”

“Like I said, I need time. Crowley is a complicated person, and is largely unpredictable, especially in comparison to the thief in red we’re normally after. Fortunately, I have always found his mind of particular interest, and have run many psychological tests on him over the years, and feel I have a good understanding of how his brain works. After all, someone with such an explosive temper could easily go off and cause VILE even more problems for us. So, all in favor of putting me in charge of the Crowley situation?”

Maelstrom, Cleo, and Brunt were quick to put up their hands, Bellum reluctantly followed.

“It seems we are all in agreement; I will be the one to end that traitor.” Maelstrom smirked. “I’ll finish him off if it’s the last thing I ever do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry its been taking me so long to write. I'll try to have the next chapter out in a few weeks.
> 
> Dr. Vess belongs to Violetfic.
> 
> As always, if you liked this, please leave me some feedback.


	23. Revenga

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maelstrom sets into motion his plan to get rid of Crowley once and for all. Crowley and Shadow-San talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings for this chapter: Violence, alcohol.

Crowley wasn’t even sure how he managed to get back to the hotel, especially without getting a ticket for public intoxication. He couldn’t really remember what exactly he drank, but knew it was a lot. He knew Shawna wouldn’t be angry at him for spending so much on alcohol, but she would probably bring it up eventually. She didn’t care about him wasting money or drinking, but she didn’t like him to drink to excess like they used to when they were younger.

Crowley would have liked to stay at the pub, and drink a few more rounds, but seeing as it was the wee hours of the morning, the establishment was closing up for the night. He doubted there were any liquor stores open at thing time of night, and if any were open, they likely would refuse him service in his drunken state, so he had decided to just head back to the hotel suite he was sharing with Moose Boy and Otter Man, and maybe break into the minibar if he still wanted a drink.

He stumbled though the hotel lobby and into the elevator, almost getting off at the wrong floor before realizing. Upon reaching the door, he fumbled with his hotel key card, dropping it twice before managing to unlock the door. He assumed the two Swedes would be asleep at this point and was a bit startled when he spotted Otter Man on the couch, messing around with his communicator. The TV was on-albeit at a very low volume-but he wasn’t paying much attention to it.

“Its kinda late, ye know.” He slurred. “Shouldn’t ye be in bed with Henrik by now?”

“Its kind of late for you to be stumbling back here drunk.” Replied Otter Man. “I have no idea if the heist was a success or not, as I can’t tell if you’re drunk due to celebration, or drunk because you were trying to cope with failure.”

Crowley chuckled. “Fair enough. The heist went well, and my drinkin’ is sorta unrelated. But I needty know, why are ye up so late? And where’s Henrik? Is her still sleepin’ or, is he out somewhere?”

Otter Man sighed. “I know you’re going to remember exactly zero of this conversation in the morning, so I’m not really sure why I’m bothering to tell you. Henrik’s still asleep, I only woke up because I had a nightmare.”

“I know Henrik is a deep sleeper, but he usually wakes up fer ye. Do ye want me tae give it a try? I’m pretty good at gettin’ people out of bed?”

Otter Man shook his head. “No, I came out here specifically because I didn’t want to wake Henrik up. Its just a stupid nightmare, and I need to learn how to deal with these things on my own.”

Crowley sat down on the couch next to the smaller man. “Ye know how much Henrik cares about ye, he ain’t gonna be mad if ye wake him up in the middle of the night because ye had a nightmare. In fact, I think he would prefer if ye talked tae him instead of spendin’ the night awake out here.”

“I know he loves me, and I certainly love him back, but I need to stop constantly relying on him for emotional support. Because of how bad my childhood was, and all the things I’ve gone through since then, I just have nightmares sometimes; its completely normal for someone in my situation, and there isn’t really much I can do about it.”

Crowley could relate to Otter Man fairly well. They both suffered some form of abuse during their childhood and were still dealing with the scars it left behind. The only difference was that Crowley developed anger issues, and Otter Man became very passive. One thing was for certain, though, being with VILE was helping neither of them.

Crowley knew all too well that nightmares and flashbacks were fairly normal for someone who had experienced a traumatic event, especially if the sufferer wasn’t getting any sort of help, but that didn’t mean they were something that was okay to be dealing with, or something a person just needed to deal with. It was clear Otter Man needed professional help, and while that wasn’t something Crowley could give him, he didn’t want his friend to just pretend everything was okay.

“Yer not the only one who has tae deal with nightmares, but that doesn’t mean ye have tae suffer alone.” He told him. “We can’t take ye tae some fancy therapist while VILE is still on our arse, but we still want tae help ye the best we can. Henrik isn’t gonna be mad at ye if ye wake him up in the middle of the night because ye had a nightmare. In fact, I bet he’d be glad he can help ye.”

Otter Man stared at the floor. “Its not that I’m worried I’ll bother Henrik, it’s just that I don’t want him thinking he needs to constantly be protecting me. I know I’m not as strong as him, both physically and emotionally, but that doesn’t mean I constantly need to have him take care of me. I’m an adult and can take care of myself.

“I’ve always been a fairly independent person, especially when I was little are had to take care of my brothers, so it just feels wrong to have to rely on other people. I love Henrik, but there’s no way he’d understand this. He may have lost everything before I met him, but I had nothing to begin with.”

Having also needed to grow up fast, Crowley knew this need for independence quite well. For most of his childhood he didn’t have a single friend, and with the deep distain he’d quickly developed for his parents, he’d been virtually alone in the world. Learning to care about people was one thing but having them care about you was quite another.

It had taken Crowley for too long to trust that his friends actually cared about him and weren’t just being nice because they were afraid of him or wanted something from him. But even if he did trust them, it was so engrained in him to never show weakness, that he couldn’t help but push them away. Sometimes that would be done by physically avoiding them, other times with violence.

“Yer not weak.” Crowley assured him. “Ye’ve always been a fighter, otherwise ye wouldn’t be here with us today. Ye could’ve given up as a kid and waited for someone tae save ye, or ye could’ve given up when Coach Brunt to ye that ye weren’t cut out fer VILE, but ye didn’t.”

“Look, I appreciate your effort, but you don’t need to pretend that you believe in me. I’m basically useless and I don’t know why you bothered to bring me to Italy with you in the first place, especially if you didn’t need me for the heist. I’m basically blind, emotionally damaged, and if we hadn’t decided to join you, I’d probably be getting mindwiped sooner than later. You certainly realize how weak I am, but Henrik doesn’t yet, and I’d like to keep it that way for at least a little longer.”

“I read somewhere that strong people also know when tae ask fer help and aren’t afraid tae do so. I don’t know what that says about me since I’m never willin’ tae ask anyone fer anythin’, but ye shouldn’t be afraid tae do it. Yer stronger than ye think, Sven, we know it and Bobcat sure knew it. Ye were her favorite, after all.”

He scoffed. “As far as I’m aware, Bobcat didn’t have a favorite. Sure, she liked some operatives better than others, but she didn’t play favorites. And even if she did have a favorite, it wouldn’t have been me.”

“No, ye were definitely her favorite. Bobcat actually saw a lot of herself in ye. Ye were both passionate about wild animals, nature, and all the shite, and neither of ye was that physically intimidating, even if Bobcat was better at usin’ her size tae her advantage. Ye were also both survivors in one way or another, with Bobcat havin’ tae survive by herself after that plane crash, and ye having tae keep yerself alive after yer parents kicked ye out. Data found out a lot about Bobcat’s past when we were lookin’ fer her, and it really made me realize why she liked ye so much.

“She really respected ye, too. As far as I can tell, Bobcat had a pretty privileged upbringin’, somethin’ she knew ye didn’t have. Ye worked a hell of a lot more fer what ye had in yer life than she did, and she respected ye fer that. She never saw ye as weak, and I don’t either.”

Otter Man really didn’t know what to say. “Er, thanks, I guess. But I do have one thing to say about what you just told me. If you figured out Bobcat’s true identity, why haven’t you told anyone, not even Shadow-San? She could have family out there that is still looking for her and have no idea she’s dead.”

Crowley shrugged. “A lot of us came tae VILE tae leave our pasts behind, and I figured Bobcat wanted tae do just that. There were people lookin’ fer when she originally disappeared, so she had tae have a reason not tae go back tae them, and instead change her identity and join VILE. I don’t even think the Head Faculty at the time really looked into operative’s pasts back then, and probably had no idea she was fakin’ her identity until me and Heidi looked into it.

“The only people that were lookin’ fer her outside of the police and the press were her paternal grandparents, and considerin’ Bobcat was 55 when she died, I highly doubt they’re still out there. Bobcat was an only child, as was her father, and I read she didn’t have much contact with her mother’s side. Bobcat kept secrets for a reason, and I’m just honorin’ her wishes.”

“I guess that’s fair, especially if she doesn’t have any family left. I mean, they probably assumed she died a long time ago if she’s been gone for so long, even if they never found a body.” He replied. “I think I should go back to bed before Henrik wakes up and finds me gone.”

Crowley nodded. “Yeah, I should probably be doin’ the same. Its late and I’m kinda drunk.”

“Goodnight, Alistair. Oh, and one more thing; drink some damn water because I don’t want to deal with your hungover ass any more than I have to.”

Crowley let out a light chuckle. “I will make sure I do that.”

Crowley had always been a complicated case, and Professor Maelstrom was aware of this. Normally, they wouldn’t keep students who showed such unpredictability and caused so many fights, but Crowley was different. Most of the time he didn’t work well with others, but he was mostly obedient towards the Head Faculty, more so than a lot of the more _predictable _operatives.

Because Crowley had such a high success rate, the Head Faculty were willing to overlook his unorthodox methods. In fact, the only one who had ever opposed him was Shadow-San. While he was willing to admit the operative was good at what he did, he found Crowley’s methods to be barbaric, and thought such a hair-trigger operative would be a liability.

If Crowley had been a liability when he worked for VILE, now that he had switched sides, he was a very active threat. He possessed a lot of highly classified information, and while it was unlikely he would go to any authorities on his own, Carmen Sandiego-whom they now had a confirmation he was working for-was a different story. He had to be dealt with swiftly.

Fortunately for VILE, Maelstrom knew the man enough to have a good idea of how to deal with him. Crowley was certainly intelligent and would probably be able to see through the vast majority of traps, but he was still greatly controlled by his emotional responses. He’d been witnessed going after operatives twice his size when he was a student, seemingly with no forethought, simply because they had done something to anger him. This animalistic drive would be his undoing.

It was fair to assume that Crowley had found out the circumstances behind the death of his beloved Fallen Angel if he’d decided to up and leave VILE like he did. It wasn’t exactly clear _how _he found out the truth, but the prevailing theories were that Bobcat either said something to him as she was dying, he encountered Shadow-San who informed him, or he simply figured it out himself. Of course, it didn’t matter _how _he figured out that Fallen Angel’s death was planned, and Bobcat had been at no fault, only that he now knew.

Professor Maelstrom understood that the logical part of Crowley’s mind was probably telling him to take a more strategic approach, and that taking down VILE for good would have a much bigger positive impact than fulfilling any of his revenge fantasy’s, but the more emotional side was telling him to kill the person directly responsible for his Angel’s death, even at the cost of his own life. Seeing as Bobcat had already killed off the operatives who had directly taken Fallen Angel’s life, that make Maelstrom, the one who had orchestrated the entire thing the target of his vengeance.

To be completely honest, Maelstrom was far from afraid of the rogue operative. He knew Crowley could easily kill him if they were to go toe-to-toe, but there were very few situations where that would happen, and all of which were very unlikely to ever occur. Even if they were to come face-to-face, he seriously doubted Crowley would have it in him to actually go through with it, due to his past causing him to be more submissive to authority figures (at least those he actually considered to have authority over him) than he was towards his peers.

Destroying Crowley would be exciting enough on its own-especially with all the issues he’d been causing VILE lately-but Professor Maelstrom knew of a way to make the whole thing even more entertaining, involving a close friend of Crowley’s.

Neal the Eel, while one of the few people who had managed to actually get close to the violent operative, was loyal to VILE above all else, even his friends. While he and Crowley were certainly close, Maelstrom was certain Neal would choose VILE over his friend, especially when said friend had already betrayed the organization he was so loyal to.

Maelstrom wasn’t certain that Neal could kill Crowley, but that was beside the point. He’d either get to see Crowley killed off by one of his closest friends, or Crowley would have to kill Neal for his own survival and would be weakened from the fight enough to be an easy enough target to deal with.

In order to entice Crowley to actually show his face, Maelstrom planned to be there himself, which would also give him a nice view of the action. He would have Dr. Bellum leak some information about a fake heist, where Maelstrom himself would actually be out in the field, allegedly receiving stolen goods from an operative.

To some, the whole thing might seem a bit suspicious, especially since the Head Faculty rarely went into the field, but Crowley would blindly see this as his opportunity for revenge, not considering any possible risks or letting logic get in his way. Of course, Carmen Sandiego might see right through it, but there was no way Crowley what let her stop him, and he’d been known to attack his allies before, so this could work even more in VILE’s favor.

Crowley had initially been one of Maelstrom’s favorites, so violent and numb to his actions, but fairly obedient. It would be a shame to put an end to an operative that had more than lived up to everyone’s expectations of him, but Professor Maelstrom was actually overjoyed to be the one to end him.

Nighthawk hadn’t had much luck trying to contact her girlfriend ever since their last brief conversation. Magpie hadn’t been picking up and didn’t seem to be checking her voicemails lately, so Nighthawk had given up that method of contact a few weeks ago. As for texting, it only seemed to get her vague responses.

She understood that Magpie was busy-due to what was going on with VILE, much of the organization was-but Nighthawk couldn’t help but worry that she was being purposely ignored. While Magpie hadn’t been in contact with any of their friends, either, or given any other indication of doing that sort of thing, Nighthawk still worried her girlfriend had gotten suspicious during their last conversation and wasn’t giving her any sort of reply because of it. While Magpie could certainly be petty, she usually made it abundantly clear why.

Deciding that trying to call again was her best option, Nighthawk waited for a time she knew Magpie wouldn’t be working, before attempting to reach out to her. Thankfully, Magpie actually picked up.

_“Kaia, I’m sorry I haven’t been talking to you lately, I’ve just been so busy and stressed.” _The other woman sounded completely exhausted. _“Believe me, I’m not trying to ignore you on purpose, there’s just been so much shit going down recently that my personal live has had to take a backseat.”_

“That’s more than understandable, Mags. Listen, I’m not calling because I’m mad at you or anything; I’m calling because I worry. I know you’re very busy working for Roundabout and that’s probably a contributing factor to your mood, but you seemed upset about something last time I called you, and I feel it might not be work related. I’m afraid it might have been something I did, and if so, I want to be able to make things right.”

_“Its not you, Kaia, you’ve done nothing wrong. I just had a personal issue come up lately, and coupled with everything else that’s been happening lately, I haven’t been in the best mood and really haven’t been up to talking with you. I’m sorry if I came off as rude, but I’m in no way mad at you.”_

Nighthawk figured whatever personal issue that Magpie had mentioned was the cause in her change of mood. The other woman was usually great at masking her emotions, but sometimes more serious things could slip through her walls. Since Magpie didn’t seem to think anything was up, she decided to push on.

“Mags, I’m your girlfriend; if you’re having an issue, you can tell me about it. I’ll always be here for you if you need me. Oh, and I’m not sure if anyone told you yet, but Matthew’s surgery was a complete success if that’s what’s been bothering you. He still has a long road to recovery, but he’s doing better.”

_“Sorry, Kaia, you know I’ve never been great at sharing my emotions. And while I was worried about Matthew, that hasn’t been what’s bothering me. You see, after I landed back in England, I ran into some demons-rather a demon-from my past. To be more specific, I ran into my sorry excuse of a birthmother.”_

Nighthawk didn’t know everything about Magpie’s past, but she did know that the other woman had been abandoned by her mother at the age of three. Magpie had always said that it didn’t bother her, and she had done just fine without a mother, but it was clear the whole thing had its impact on her.

“I’m sorry to hear that, Mags. Are you okay? I know you have a difficult past, but so do I, as well as our friends. You don’t need to keep these types of things from us, and we won’t judge you for them.”

Nighthawk hadn’t exactly had the best childhood, either. She lost her mother in an aviation accident when she was only seven, and her father took his own life not too long after. She was then raised by her grandfather, who did a decent enough job of making sure she grew up strong and smart, but she always did wonder what it would be like if her parents were still alive, and often envied the children of two-parent households.

Magpie seemed reluctant to share further, but that didn’t stop her from continuing. _“It has never been the fact that my mother abandoned me that bothered me, it was that I never knew why she left me, or why she never came back for me, even though she had apparently claimed she would. I knew she hadn’t died, but I always figured she had a good reason to leave me, especially seeing as she waited until I was a few years old and didn’t up as a baby. But I now know that my mother is simply the most selfish human being to ever exist._

_“For starters, she has no idea who my father is, but that’s hardly a surprise, and frankly I don’t care. What really bothers me is the excuse she had for her actions. She didn’t want me in the first place, but for whatever reason, decided she would keep me around. Then, as soon as she met a man, she decided to give me up because I was an inconvenience to her and that was a good enough reason to dump me on the system. Oh, and apparently, I have a half-brother._

_“I know I should be happy, knowing that my mother is simply a terrible person and her abandoning me was in no way my fault, but I don’t. I guess I just feel, I don’t know, unsatisfied. I never wanted a relationship with my mother if I were to locate her, and frankly I wasn’t sure what I was expecting when I finally met her, but it wasn’t this.”_

From the tone of her voice, Nighthawk could tell Magpie was clearly very upset, and she certainly had the right to be. Nighthawk herself was feeling like she should track down this woman and give her a piece of her mind. She could tell that her girlfriend was much happier being in the dark and only having her hypothetical version of events to go off of, rather than learning the truth.

“I’m sorry you have to deal with this, Mags. I know this probably won’t make you feel any better, but if your mother is the way you described, maybe it’s a good thing she didn’t raise you. I don’t know what it would be like to be raised by a grade-A narcissist like that, but I doubt it would be fun. There’s a good chance your half-brother didn’t turn out great because of her.”

_“I suppose you’re right, Kaia. Anyways, thanks for hearing me out. I know you have your own issues right now, but I’m glad you made the effort to check in on me. I should really be heading off to bed now, as its getting pretty late. Love you, bye.”_

“Love you, too.”

Nighthawk honestly felt terrible for tricking her girlfriend like that, especially since she was doing it solely as an assignment. She honestly wasn’t sure what she’d discover when Roundabout asked her to figure out what was bothering Magpie, but it sure as hell wasn’t that.

She didn’t want to tell Roundabout what she had found out but felt like she didn’t have a choice. She had accepted the assignment and now she had to complete it. Not to mention, Roundabout knew about the relationship she had with Magpie, and seeing how romantic relationships were expressly forbidden within VILE, he could certainly use this information to hurt them if he wanted.

Dr. Llyewlyn was starting to wish that he could have just continued his normal work for the two weeks of his _vacation _instead. Dealing with the operatives could be a pain, but it was far more exciting and much less tedious than sorting through years of old paperwork. At this point, he would do almost anything to get out of it.

He certainly wasn’t about to dissect rats, but there had to be _something _he could do besides this. After a while of pondering, he was able to think of something that might just get him out of this, at least for a little while.

“You know, doctor, it has been over a year since your last appointment with me.” He said to Vess. “Seeing as I’m not busy right now, and you aren’t currently dealing with a patient, I believe this might be a good time for that. After all, I know you are always under a lot of stress, which is known to be the cause of a lot of dental issues.”

While Dr. Vess was a highly organized person and generally good at keeping up with oral hygiene, his constant stress and high caffeine consumption had always caused issues, mainly bruxism. Dr. Llyewlyn had performed quite a bit of dental work on the surgeon over the years, and there would likely be more, due to his refusal to make any lifestyle changes.

Bloatfly and Undertaker refused to work on Vess, due to their general dislike of the man, so his appointments were always handled by Dr. Llyewlyn. This was for the best, however, as he always seemed to have some stress-related dental issue that the girls lacked the training to take care of, and this way the dentist didn’t have to worry about getting him back for a follow up appointment.

Vess waived him off. “Not now, I’m busy. I’ll book an appointment with you when I get around to it.”

“Nonsense, I assure you, it won’t take long at all, and its best to get these types of things out of the way.” Dr. Llyewlyn persisted. “I recommend all of my patents see me every six months, but you should never wait more than a year between appointments. You as a doctor should know how important all types of preventative care are, including dental.

“And besides, I know you well enough to be certain that you won’t actually get around to booking an official appointment with me. Instead, you’ll just come to me when your teeth are bothering you to the point you can no longer ignore them, and I have to move a lot of things around to deal with you. That’s never convenient for either of us.”

Dr. Vess hadn’t actually had an official dental appointment in years, and Dr. Llyewlyn always had to squeeze him in for an _emergency _appointment for an issue that could’ve been prevented by an actual appointment at an earlier date. The dentist had no issue finding time for emergency appointments, and sometimes skipped his lunch break due to them, but he was always a bit annoyed when these were due to lack of planning on his patients’ part, and not an actual emergency.

“If it will get you off my back, then fine, I’ll do it.” Replied Vess. “I guess its better than trying to fit it in on another day when I’m far busier.”

“Great, we will go right now! The girls are taking care of a few of my other patients, but they have their own work areas and equipment, so my exam room will be available. I would also like to perform a few x-rays of your teeth, but that shouldn’t take long either.”

Vess still seemed annoyed by the whole thing but didn’t comment.

“Have you been remembering to wear your mouthguard at night?” Asked the dentist. “The wear on your teeth seems severe, and since I know your diet doesn’t contain a lot of sugar, and you don’t smoke or drink, I’ll have to blame this on either your dental habits or stress.”

“With the exception of avoiding dental appointments, I assure you, I take excellent care of my teeth.” Replied Vess. “I use my mouthguard every night, and I would assume my oral hygiene practices are a lot better than many of your other patients, seeing as they are also my patients and quite a few of them cannot even follow the most basic follow up instructions I give them.”

Dr. Llyewlyn had to agree with him on that; VILE operatives weren’t exactly the most compliant patients he’d ever had.

“Hmm, since your gums do show that you’ve been flossing, unlike many of my patients that say they take good care of their teeth and follow my advice, I guess I should believe you. Of course, that means much of this recent wear is caused by diurnal bruxism, likely due to stress. But since you refuse to take my advice in lowering your stress level or making lifestyle changes, there isn’t much I can do besides treat the symptoms.

“There is a lot of work I could do, but since there has been reoccurring damage to the teeth, which likely will continue to occur, I’m afraid to do any extensive bridgework, as it likely wouldn’t hold up, and having to replace it might even damage the teeth further. For now, you will just need a few fillings, and crown replacement, but you may need a root canal in the future.”

“And how long will this take?” Demanded Vess. “You know I am a very busy man, and I do not have time to sit here all day.”

“Not more than an hour.” Said the dentist. “I’ll give you some Nitrous to keep you calm and make this easier for both of us, but I won’t knock you out completely this time. Although, judging from those dark circles, I’d assume knocking you out for a few hours would do you some good.”

Most, if not all of Dr. Llyewlyn’s patients received at least some level of sedation during their appointments. He knew that even the nicest operative could become reactive when he was poking at their teeth with his metal instruments, so it was better for everyone’s safety to do so.

He never let Undertaker or Bloatfly deal with any of his patients known to be dangerously reactive (although there were more patients he was comfortable giving to Undertaker than to Bloatfly, due to the older sister being much bigger and stronger than the younger). Sometimes he might have them assist him with said patients, but he would never have them work alone.

His logic was that if a patient needed more than one guard in there during their appointment, they were not somebody who the girls should be dealing with, he rarely let Bloatfly take care of patients that required a guard at all. Dr. Llyewlyn couldn’t hold his own in a fight, but he’d certainly learned how to successfully flee.

Conscious sedation was a much safer and preferred option to full sedation, as the patient was still able to breathe on their own and had a low risk of dying. Dr. Llyewlyn would only use full sedation for more invasive procedures, such as the removal of wisdom teeth. In those cases, he would always have a few nurses assist him, just in case anything went wrong.

Vess was becoming calm from the nitrous, so Dr. Llyewlyn began injecting the Novocain into his patients gums. Since this wasn’t a follow-up appointment meant to take care of issues discovered earlier, he decided to start with a basic cleaning while the drugs were still coming into effect, knowing he probably wouldn’t get Dr. Vess to come back for another appointment any time soon.

There was an odd sense of power that came with having his superior in such a position. Normally, Dr. Vess was the one in control, but right now he was at Dr. Llyewlyn’s will as he sat there, mostly aware of what was going on, but in an altered state, nonetheless.

Dr. Llyewlyn’s mind always liked to wander to a dark place during these times of power reversal. He could easily shift the dosage of either of the drugs he was using, the surgeon would be none the wiser, and Dr. Llyewlyn could easily pass it off as a simple mistake. He could lower the dose of Novocain so that the numbing effect would still initially appear, and the drug would seem to be working, but Dr. Vess would feel everything. If he truly wanted to, he could probably even kill the other man with a nitrous overdose.

Dr. Llyewlyn had considered such an act multiple times. Vess was cruel towards his subordinates, and even his patients. Not only that, but the doctor was also involved in a multitude of experiments that violated the laws of many civilized countries and were generally morally deplorable. The world-hell even just VILE-would be better without him.

Dr. Llyewlyn knew that this was not his call to make, however, even if he was in a position to do so. The act also went against his nature, as while he was an employee of VILE, he was certainly no murderer, and was the type to even allow spiders to live.

Like usual, he simply finished up the appointment, gave Vess some advice he probably wouldn’t follow, and went about cleaning up his station. Dr. Llyewlyn did use the interruption as an excuse to take the rest of the day off and paint, however.

After the whole incident the previous night, Carmen thought it would be best to try and contact Crowley again, just to make sure he was still on board for their partnership. While it was incredibly unlikely that Crowley would go back to VILE, or even actively try to take down Carmen’s team, he was a valuable ally, and could be the difference between success and failure in their fight against VILE.

“Carmen, I apologize for my actions last night, I should not have assumed Crowley had killed an operative.” Shadow-San told her. “I know how he was as a student and operative, but I am beginning to see that he actually is making an attempt at change, especially since he followed the plan we set out for him, and didn’t decide to just do things his way.”

“I don’t really blame you for what you did.” She replied. “I mean, he stabbed Antonio and took Bobcat’s life. Even if he has realized the error of his ways and had a change of heart, we should still keep an eye on him. He seems very reactive.

“You said that even when he first came to VILE, he seemed very damaged, and spending ten years working for VILE couldn’t have been good for someone who already wasn’t in the best place mentally. While I still don’t completely trust him yet, I still want to talk to him and make it clear they we’re on the same side.”

“Perhaps I should be the one to talk to him.” Said Shadow-San. “I have the most experience dealing with Crowley and his behaviors. Besides, it was my jumping to conclusions that has caused this issue in the first place, so I should be the one to deal with the aftermath.”

Crowley honestly hadn’t been this hungover in quite a while. He used to be much more of a drinker, but as he aged, found he didn’t recover from hangovers quite as fast, and couldn’t party nearly as long, and changed his ways. He was no longer as indestructible as he was in his late teens and early twenties.

Moose Boy and Otter Man had already left to enjoy their last day in Florence, off to some museum or something, Crowley hadn’t bothered to ask. While he’d lacked any concrete plans of how he would spend his day but sleeping off a hangover wasn’t what he had envisioned.

He hadn’t even planned to get drunk. Maybe he would have had a few drinks in celebration, but he wouldn’t have gotten absolutely plastered like he did. But Shadow-San’s words had set him off and reminded him of the things he hated about himself. Normally, he would block these feelings out with rage, but drinking his problems away seemed like a more peaceful idea, especially considering how docile of a drunk he was.

He was woken up by a pounding in his head, and the sound of his communicator going off. The screen showed multiple missed calls from Carmen, and it seemed like she was trying to reach him again. Normally, he would have answered the call, thinking something was up, but his judgement was still impaired from the previous night, so he simply turned off the advice, took the pills and water that Otter Man had been nice enough to leave him, and went back to sleep.

The next time he was woken up, about ten minutes later, was by a loud knocking at the door of the hotel suite. He groaned, covering his aching head with a pillow, hoping the person would just leave. The knocking, however, continued.

“Can’t ye see the Do Not Disturb sign?” He yelled, loud enough for the person to hear. “I don’t wanna be bothered; go away!”

“Crowley, I am here to talked to you.” A voice he recognized as Shadow-San’s called back. “Open this door.”

“Looked I’m sorry fer whatever I fooked up this time, but I ain’t in the mood. Come back later.”

He swore he could hear Shadow-San sigh all the way from the hallway. “Fine, if you are not willing to do this the easy way, I will come in there myself.”

Crowley ignored this and rolled over, attempting to get back to sleep once again. But before he could drift off, he was startled by a hand on his shoulder. He turned around, and upon seeing who the hand belonged to, nearly fell out of bed.

He gave a nervous chuckle. “Ye weren’t kiddin’ when ye said ye’d come in here. Did ye pick the lock or somethin’?”

“You left your window wide open.” Replied Shadow-San. “Crowley, I am here to talk about what happened last night.”

“Oh, yeah, that. I shoulda been clearer when I told ye I’d dealt with that operative, sorry fer that. Don’t know why ye bothered tae break into my hotel room if ye didn’t stop me last night.”

“Actually, I am here to apologize for my actions last night.” He said. “What I did was completely out of line, and I am sorry. I hope I have not damaged the relationship between my team and yours.”

Crowley was genuinely shocked. “This ain’t right. I’m the screw up. I’m the one who’s supposed tae be apologizin’ not ye. What in the hell is goin’ on, am I still drunk?”

All his life, Crowley had been the problem. He’d been the one in the wrong, the one that needed to apologize (even if he rarely did). It felt weird being on the other side of it for once.

“Crowley, I myself was once a violent and misguided criminal, until something happened that forced me to reevaluate my life choices.” Said Shadow-San. “When I first met you, I thought that there was a good person inside you somewhere, but as time went on, I gave up hope. But now I see that I was foolish to discredit you.

“You always put up walls to keep others out, and VILE used that aspect of you to their own benefit. Maybe if I had tried harder with you, I would have been able to break down those walls and things would not have escalated the way they did. I was skeptical when I heard you were trying to change, but from your behavior on the heist, I can tell you are actually working towards bettering yourself. I am sorry for jumping to conclusions the way I did and hope my actions have not harmed the relationship between our two teams.”

“No need fer ye tae apologize.” Replied Crowley. “I don’t blame ye at all for yer actions and I ain’t mad at ye at all. I know I haven’t exactly been a good person, so I don’t blame ye fer comin’ tae conclusions like ye did. It just reminded me of how I used tae be, and I just needed tae clear my head.”

“Even if you are not bothered, I still regret my actions. I just want to let you know that I will not do that sort of thing again.”

Crowley shrugged. “Don’t let it get tae ye. If we’re all done here, I’d like tae get back tae sleep. Ye can tell yer friends everythin’ is good between us, and that I’ll call them later.”

He nodded. “I will. Just remember Crowley, you are a good person deep down, no matter how much it has been buried over the years.”

Crowley didn’t want a lecture; he just wanted to sleep and simply ignored Shadow-San until he left.

Blue Jay was woken up by the sound of her communicator. It was far too early for her, as it was still completely dark outside, and a couple of hours off from when she would normally wake up for her morning run. Neal, who was still asleep next to here, seemed not to even hear the noise, as he didn’t so much as roll over.

Blue Jay was about to give whoever decided to wake her up a verbal lashing, but when she noticed who the call was from, she quickly grabbed the device and headed to the other room.

“Professor Maelstrom, I trust my daily updates have been sufficient.” She said. “There haven’t been any recent developments with Neal, but Crowley may just be holding out on contacting him, so I don’t think it’s a good idea to recall me just yet.”

_“I have no plans to recall you.” _Maelstrom told her. _“The reason I am calling is because I have come to the conclusion that there is something going on between you and Neal.”_

“We’re just friends and nothing more.” Sputtered Blue Jay. “I know the rules about relationships very well, and I am not stupid enough to put VILE at risk because of feelings. Besides, Neal’s like seven years older than me.”

_“Don’t play dumb with me. I know you two have a relationship, but instead of punishing you for it, I think I have a way to use it to VILE’s advantage. Let me just make one thing clear; if you are to try and betray VILE in favor of Neal the punishment will be severe. Do I make myself perfectly clear?”_

Blue Jay didn’t want to lie to Neal any more than she already was, but it seemed like she had no choice in the matter. “Yes, professor. What do you need from me?”

_“I know you are aware of Crowley, and that he has betrayed VILE and that Neal has a connection to him. Anyways, we have devised a plan to get rid of that traitor once and for all. I need you to convince Neal to go along with my plan without letting him find out the truth, understand?”_

Blue Jay wasn’t certain what Professor Maelstrom had in mind with his plan, but she knew somebody was getting hurt. Her main theory was that he would have Neal and Crowley fight, testing Neal’s loyalty towards VILE for the entertainment of the Head Faculty. This was not something she wished to have a part in, but what could she do?

“Yes, Professor, I am at your disposal. Tell me what you need of me and I will act accordingly.”

He seemed satisfied with her answer. _“Good, I will call you back within a week with more details. I see this time works for you, so I will schedule the second call for a similar time. You are a good operative Blue Jay; your loyalty and obedience will be greatly rewarded.”_

He ended the call without another word.

Due to how toxic a lot of the operatives in her year were, Blue Jay didn’t have any really close friends, and couldn’t relate to Neal’s bond with the group of friends he had initially roomed with when they were student but knew how much he cared about his group.

Neal kept an old photograph of his group including himself, Crowley, Moose Boy, Otter Man, Data, and the deceased Fallen Angel on his shelf, and Blue Jay had asked about it once. There was a fondness in his voice when he told her about each person in the photo. There was no way she could destroy what he had, but she couldn’t betray VILE, either. They could mindwipe or kill her, and even worse, they knew about her family and where they lived.

She had to tell Neal, there had to be some way that she could keep herself safe (while VILE did know where her family lived, they had a very good security system for unrelated reasons, so she wasn’t too worried about them) and keep him from having to fight his friend, she just needed to figure it out.

Disregarding her incident of desertion, Nighthawk was always an obedient soldier, much like her mother had been. But she’d also been taught by her grandfather that family (although his definition of _family _was quite loose in her mind, and he hardly took blood into consideration when choosing his kin) was more important than anything. Normally, these things would stay separate in her life, or work together, like being an obedient soldier for the sake of her family. But now, she was stuck with a dilemma as her two moral philosophies clashed.

She knew that she would be just following orders by relaying the information to Roundabout, but also knew how much it would hurt Magpie if she ever found out. Magpie hadn’t seemed in the best mood lately, and if she were to find out it would only serve to exasperate her current stress level and possibly drive her away from the people she cared about entirely.

Nighthawk had initially figured that whatever was bothering Magpie would turn out to be trivial and petty, as she was known to overreact sometimes if she felt wronged, especially if she was already in a bad mood. When they were students, for example, when she was already stressed about finals, another student had shoved Magpie, and as revenge, she’s hammered nails into the soles of his sneakers while he was in the shower. He ended up badly injured from the whole ordeal and had to repeat the entire year due to not being able to participate in many of the final exams.

Weighing both her options, she decided to tell Roundabout everything she knew, and deal with Magpie’s wrath later. Magpie would eventually forgive her, VILE likely wouldn’t, and considering Roundabout was aware of their relationship, he could bring it to the attention of the other Head Faculty members if he so desired.

Waiting until it was late enough that she knew for certain Magpie had already gone home and was nowhere near Roundabout to overhear the conversation, Nighthawk made the call.

_“Good evening, Nighthawk.” _He greeted. _“I trust you have figured out what has been bothering Magpie. She has been nothing but a great assistant, and I would like to get her back to her usual behavior as soon as possible.”_

“I have done what was asked of me.” She said simply. “My only ask is that you don’t tell Mags that this ever happened, as she isn’t always the most forgiving, even with people she cares about.”

_“It would not be in my best interest to tell her, either.” _He replied. _“I’ve found Margaret to be naturally wary and untrusting, but quite intelligent and persuasive. I feel I have finally started to gain her trust and would not like to lose the progress I have made with her. If she were to find out about any of this, she would lose all trust in me as well, and I feel her trust is necessary for us to continue to work together.”_

Nighthawk didn’t completely trust Roundabout, but he did make a good point. Magpie looked harmless enough, but she could be downright dangerous to those she distrusted, especially those who betrayed her trust. Roundabout was certainly an intellectual match for her, but even if she couldn’t take him down, she could still do damage.

“You make a fair point. The reason I am so concerned is that I found out the reason for Mag’s behavior is a personal matter, one which I think she would be even more angry if she found out I shared with you, so if she does find, please don’t inform her of my involvement. I do worry that she’ll still figure it out, but I figure we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”

_“You have my word. Many operatives come with their share of personal issues due to their pasts, and I am quite familiar with how it can resurface. I have no plans to reveal to Margaret that I know of her problems and will only use the information to learn how I can better deal with her current behaviors.”_

Nighthawk paused for a few seconds before speaking. “For starters, the thing you need to know is that Mags was abandoned by her mother at the age of three and spent her entire life up until the age of sixteen in foster care and group homes with little to no stability in her life. She told me she joined VILE on a total whim.

“Despite having no desire to reconnect with her mother, Mags has always wondered what happened to her and why she gave her up. She always assumed her mother had a good reason, as Mags did track her down online-but didn’t contact her-and she’s still alive. Anyway, after seventeen years of no contact, Mags ran into her mother at the airport when she was coming back from visiting Matthew and decided to ask about it.

“Apparently, Mag’s mother is a terrible and narcissistic person who did have the means to care for a child, but decided that the possibility of her fiancé breaking it off was worth abandoning her own child over. Mag’s even found out she has a half-brother.

“She said that she thought finding out the reason that her mother abandoned her, and that it was in no way her fault, would make her feel better, but it didn’t. She told me she felt really unfulfilled, as she’d been looking for answers for a while, and now that she had them, they weren’t what she was expecting. Mags is usually really good at masking her emotions, but I guess this time is the exception.”

Roundabout was no stranger to family issues. When he was a young student at Oxford, he knew his parents would never accept him for who he was, so he dropped out, got a small government position, and later joined VILE. His father had died nearly twenty years ago, and his mother, while alive, had succumb to Alzheimer’s and wouldn’t even recognize her own son anymore (not that he’d gone to visit her, anyways). His older brother was still out there, and he had a niece who he hadn’t seen since she was very young (she would be in her twenties now), so he basically had no family at all.

_“That does make a lot of sense with how she’s been acting lately, as I knew it had to be something big. I will have to do some thinking before I decide to make any actions, buy at least I understand her sudden changes in behavior a bit better.”_

“Do not make your actions obvious.” Warned Nighthawk. “If she realized that you’re treating her differently than normal, she’ll know something is up.”

_“Of course; I’m certain I can get through to her without her noticing any change in my behavior.”_

Getting the action that he’d so desperately craved had not slowed down Crowley’s appetite for more one bit. In fact, he was now more pumped than ever, waiting for his next chance to fight. And it better not be some recent graduate this time; he wanted someone experienced who would actually be a challenge for him.

He’d returned to Scotland with Moose Boy and Otter Man only a couple of days ago, and he was already getting bored of being there. When he’d been a world traveler, going from place to place at the request of VILE, he’s missed having a place to call home and being in the city he grew up in. But now that he was back in Glasgow, he missed being all over the world.

Shawna didn’t have any work for him lately (according to her, the Snakes had been a lot less active recently), and while Carmen had said she’d said any VILE activity that needed to be dealt with within driving distance of Glasgow to him, there obviously hadn’t been any in such a short time.

Crowley had no idea what he’d do if they actually did manage to take down VILE and he no longer had an enemy to fight. He needed something to be against, a hatred that got him up in the morning. He needed the excitement of bloodshed to keep him from going completely nuts.

Moose Boy and Otter Man, on the other hand, seemed perfectly happy living a civilian life. Sure, they wanted to destroy VILE for what it did to them and so it couldn’t hurt anyone else, but they would have little trouble adjusting after the fighting was over once and for all.

Since he couldn’t be off fighting, Crowley took to filling the void in the only non-violent ways he knew how, reading books and writing poems. His poetry had always been a good coping mechanism for him, although his poems were always rather dark, being about his life and all. He never really went back and looked at his old poems, however, as they were all from points of time he would like to forget.

As Crowley was finishing up his first poem in quite a while-a piece about Bobcat, her death, and the way VILE had manipulated him into causing it-he was suddenly startled by the sound of his communicator. He knew he should probably invest in a normal phone sooner or later, but he didn’t want to go through the trouble of transferring his contacts and files over to a new device.

Picking up the device and seeing that the call was from Carmen, he didn’t hesitate to answer.

“So do ye have another heist fer tae break up?” He asked excitedly. “Ye knew I’m always ready tae go.”

_“Not exactly.” _She told him. _“My computer guy, Player, has been working with Data to search the VILE databases for anything of interest, but you’re probably already aware of that. Anyways, they think they have found something interesting. Apparently, Professor Maelstrom has set up a new assignment for some operatives to steal a painting for him. The strange part is, he’ll be going into the field to collect it. The Head Faculty never do this sort of this, especially not Maelstrom.”_

Ever since he’d learned the truth, Maelstrom had been Crowley’s main target. The mastermind of manipulation had been the one to orchestrate not only Fallen Angel’s death, but Bobcat’s as well. Crowley had been tricked too many times by the man, and even if he couldn’t take down the entirety of VILE, he vowed to at least take down Maelstrom.

“So, what’s yer plan so far? Where is this thing goin’ down, and when are we gonna strike?”

Carmen paused for a second. _“The thing is, Crowley, Shadow-San and I think this might be a trap. I’m not sure if this is something any of us should pursue, but we’re going to look into it and see if there might be a way that we can win. But if we can’t figure anything out, we’re going to have to avoid this whole thing for our own safety.”_

Crowley was becoming more and more agitated. His method of strike first, think later had never failed him before, and while he was willing to take directions and follow a more strategic path while working with Carmen, he was not about to lose what might be his only chance for vengeance just because she was worried it might be a trap. Even if it was, if they worked together, they were definitely stronger than a few VILE operatives, and of course, Maelstrom himself.

“If ye don’t want tae help, we’re goin’ anyways.” He told her. “I’ll have Data send me the information if yer not gonna give it tae me, and we’ll go on our own. In this case, ye’ll be perfectly safe, but if we are all killed, ye’ll have tae spent the rest of yer life knowin’ ye could’a done somethin’ but didn’t.”

This put Carmen in an awkward position. She didn’t want to risk the safety of her own team, but she couldn’t let her allies walk alone into certain death, especially when she was basically the one who led them there. She didn’t have a choice; she knew what she had to do.

_“Alright, Crowley, we’ll do it. But its going to be on my terms and you’ll have to take direction from me. Understand?”_

“Sounds good tae me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back at school now, so no idea how long chapters will take (I'm predicting the next one will be a long one), plus I've gotten into the habit of working on two pieces at once.
> 
> Dr. Vess belongs to Violetfic and is used with permission.
> 
> As always, if you liked this chapter, I would love for you to leave a comment.


	24. One Last Heist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crowley teams up with Carmen's team for one last heist.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for this chapter: Violence, dark themes.

Shadow-San had warned that bringing up the whole thing in the first place was a bad idea, and Carmen was beginning to wish she’d followed his advice. She and Shadow-San had both agreed that Crowley had changed (or was at least working on it), and they had no doubts that he was on their side, and unless they were to get in the way of his end goal of dismantling VILE, they wouldn’t have to worry about him causing them harm.

Wanting him to know that they trusted him, and to keep him on the same page as everyone else, Carmen had opted to update him when they found any information that would lead to the takedown of VILE. She really couldn’t think on any way this could become a problem.

Unfortunately, she had overlooked Crowley’s nature and desire to rush into things, even when completely underprepared. He could has certainly realized that this may be a trap but didn’t care. He wanted to take revenge on Maelstrom and didn’t give a crap about what happened to him in the process.

Their phone conversation was not going where Carmen had first planned, but she refused to get Shadow-San involved, even if she had just agreed to something that could put the lives of her entire team at risk. She had to trust Crowley, and she knew that was something Shadow-San wasn’t ready to do.

“Crowley, since we’re taking a big risk already, you’re going to have to follow my directions and plan exactly.” She told him. “If you go off and do something without thinking, you could endanger all of us, not just yourself. I still think this is a trap, but that doesn’t mean we can’t outsmart VILE.”

_“If we can’t outsmart them, we can definitely outmuscle them.” _He replied. _“It ain’t easy tae find an operative who isn’t afraid of me and doesn’t like me. All the ones that won’t run off are too green tae give us any problems.”_

“That reminds me; before we get to anything else, I want you to make sure you keep violence to an absolute minimum when we’re out there. What you did to Spinkick the other day was perfect, and while I don’t mind you leaving a few bruises, please don’t kill anyone.”

_“Ye have my word.”_

To be completely honest, Crowley was planning on killing Maelstrom, but he wasn’t about to tell Carmen that. Sure, they could hand him over to law enforcement like she probably wanted, but that way he would never be properly punished. VILE would just save him from facing justice, and seeing as he was a Head Faculty member, he probably wouldn’t even get mindwiped.

“Good. Now, I don’t have a complete plan yet, as we weren’t planning on going through this for certain, and I would like to talk with my team first before we lay out anything concrete.”

_“I’d like tae do that, too. Talk tae ye later.”_

Carmen was afraid of what she had just gotten herself into. How was she going to explain to Shadow-San that they were now going to do something he had expressing warned against?

As soon as he had ended his call with Carmen, Crowley immediately sent a message to Moose Boy and Otter Man.

**Come back here as soon as you can. **He wrote. **It is incredibly important.**

He then headed to Shawna’s apartment to collect her, knowing she would absolutely support him with this, and he wanted all the help he could get in the fight that would soon be upon them.

“Shadow-San, we need to talk.” Said Carmen, knowing this conversation would likely end in a lecture. “I may have messed up.”

“You agreed to help Crowley disrupt this VILE heist that could very well be a trap.” It wasn’t a question.

She nodded. “I know it wasn’t my best decision, but he said that if we weren’t willing to help him, he and his team would go and fight VILE on their own. If they went without us and died in the process, their blood would be on our hands. I would never be able to forgive myself.”

“You should never have told Crowley of what you knew in the first place.” Said Shadow-San. “He is too impulsive to be told about these types of things, and when he gets an idea in his head, there is not much you can do to stop him. Even with the combined strength of all of us, our victory is not guaranteed. Especially if this is a trap.”

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have done that, especially after we talked about it. The thing is, now that he knows, we cannot back out of it. I know that is probably a trap, but there has to be something that we can do to beat VILE; we’ve always been able to do it before.”

“While it is not the decision I would have made, I trust you.” Replied Shadow-San. “I have not questioned your judgement thus far, and I do not plan to start anytime soon. We will discuss the plan later on, after Zack and Ivy have returned home.”

When Moose Boy and Otter Man had gotten the urgent-sounding message from Crowley, they were quick to stop what they were doing and head home. They had been planning to spend the day in the nearby park, and even have a picnic because the weather was so nice (Crowley had advised Moose Boy that he should try to get Otter Man out of the apartment more often for the sake of his mental health), but this meant their date had to be cut short.

When they got back to the apartment, Crowley was waiting for them with Shawna. Despite the tone of the message, they both seemed fairly calm.

“Your message sounded urgent.” Said Otter Man. “We were having a nice day together, so you better have a very good reason for wanting us back here.”

“I’ve got a great reason.” Replied Crowley. “I’m finally gonna get my revenge on Maelstrom, and yer all gonna help me.”

Otter Man rolled his eyes. “This could have waited, you know. Unless you’re planning to go off and kill him right here and now, it could have waited until we got back.”

“Its important for ye tae know as soon as possible, so we can get that details worked out.” He told him. “After all, all three of ye will be part of this.”

“We have Carmen’s team on our side for this, too.” Explained Shawna. “We want tae have the best chance of comin’ back here alive as possible, and we need all the help we can get.”

“Do you really think that’s the best idea?” Asked Moose Boy. “Sven’s eyesight has been getting worse and worse, and I don’t think-“

“Shut up, Henrik, I’ll be fine!” Snapped Otter Man. “I may not be able to see as well as I used to, but that doesn’t make me some kind of invalid. Stop treating me like I can’t do anything for myself!”

As Otter Man’s vision got worse over the years, it only served to make his partner more and more protective of him. While Otter Man did have to rely on Moose Boy a bit more than before-especially for things like buying food when he couldn’t always read the label (Otter Man had a few mild but uncommon food allergies and Moose Boy always checked to make sure any food they brought into the house wouldn’t make him sick)-but he did want to hold on to some independence and be able to do things for himself.

As much as Moose Boy understood his partner’s need to hold some form of independence-especially considering his past-he was just extremely afraid of losing him. Otter Man was everything to him, and he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to go on if he lost the other man. There had been close calls before and has much as he tried to respect Otter Man’s feelings, he found it difficult to stop being so overprotective of his partner.

“Sven’s smart; we need him.” Said Crowley. “Besides, he ain’t much of a fighter, and I don’t wanna leave him along here while we’re gone.”

Otter Man shot him a glare. “I can protect myself, thank you very much. I may not be as physically strong as you, but I graduated VILE academy all the same.”

“Sven’s on board. What about ye, Henrik? We could use yer strength.”

If Otter Man was going, Moose Boy knew that he had to be there, too. He had to protect his partner no matter what, and he wasn’t about to get into another argument about this with Otter Man.

“Alright, I guess I’m in. But I don’t want Sven doing anything too dangerous. He could get hurt.”

Otter Man rolled his eyes but didn’t comment.

It was only a few days after the initial call that Blue Jay was once again awoken by her communicator early in the morning once again. She really didn’t want to talk to Maelstrom, as she wanted to put this off as long as possible, but she really didn’t have a choice.

Cursing, she grabbed the device off of the bedside table, and took it into the kitchen.

“I didn’t expect your call so soon, professor.” She said. “I mean, I know VILE works fast, but I was expecting it to be closer to a week before I heard back from you.”

_“Seeing how much of a threat Crowley is to not just VILE as a whole, but to operatives in general, we have devoted a great deal of resources to dealing with him.” _Replied Maelstrom. _“We have set out a trap for him, using a fake assignment that would give him the chance to actually see me out in the field. We do not think he is capable of realizing our true intentions._

_“This is where you and Neal come in. In order to pay for his actions, Crowley can’t simply be killed by some random operative; that isn’t enough. Neal is incredibly loyal to VILE, and I am sure he would do anything to keep you alive and in his life, including assist in the death of a close friend of his._

_“For this assignment, you will serve as the bait of sorts. Neal is to be told that you two will be taking part in a handoff, assisting in providing extra security on the small, abandoned industrial island where I will be waiting for some other high-level operatives to bring a stolen painting. Crowley will most certainly be there, and when he arrives to kill me, the high-level operatives, including Neal, will be there to end his life. _

_“I know I am putting a lot of trust in an operative like yourself who is still so young, but you should see this as an opportunity to prove yourself. Who knows? Perhaps the next time we have an empty seat at the Head Faculty table, this will convince us to have you be the one to fill it.”_

Blue Jay knew that the promise of a possible Head Faculty seat one day was a completely empty. There were plenty of operatives that would do something like this for the slightest chance of acquiring power, but she liked to think of herself as being smarter than that.

The conversation only proved to confirm her suspicions. VILE wanted to absolutely devastate Crowley for his betrayal, and they didn’t care if they hurt Neal as well. Blue Jay couldn’t let that happen; she really did care about Neal.

“I understand the plan and am willing to act on your command.” Said Blue Jay. “When will this be taking place?”

_“Ten days. You and Neal will be contacted and given instructions for the fake assignment. It is up to you to keep Neal in the dark, and make sure he kills Crowley. If I have any further information for you, it will be at the bottom of your instructions. Because of this, do not let Neal see your copy of the assignment, only his own.”_

“Of course, professor. I must go now, as I think I just heard Neal.”

Blue Jay ended the call with a sigh. She couldn’t betray Neal like this, not even for VILE. She had to tell him, no matter what his reaction might be when he found out she’d been lying to him for so long. Even if Neal never spoke to her again after the fact, she still had to tell him the truth.

Crowley wasn’t exactly confident going into this thing with just the team he had now and wanted to get as much backup as possible. Moose Boy and Otter Man weren’t the greatest operatives to ever graduate VILE academy, Shawna was a fighter but lacked any real knowledge of VILE, and while Carmen’s team had certainly showed up VILE many of times, he wasn’t sure if it would be enough.

They would have to recruit anybody and everybody they could, which obviously included El Topo and Le Chevre. Crowley understood that they were trying to move on with their lives, but with VILE still in the picture, that wasn’t something they would be able to do. He had no doubt that he would be able to convince them to join in this one last heist.

The easiest way to get into contact with everybody at the same time was video chat, but Crowley wasn’t sure that El Topo and Le Chevre would actually be willing to enter a video chat without actually knowing what was going on. He decided it would be best to call them first and convince them. He made the call at nine in the morning, as soon as he woke up, knowing it would be midafternoon in Colorado at that point.

His first attempt went to voicemail after ringing for a while, but his second one was picked up by Le Chevre.

_“You have no reason to be contacting us.” _Said the Frenchman. _“We have moved on from VILE and are not interested in participating in any further heists. Call Carmen if you need anything, and do not attempt to further contact us.”_

“Ye may have moved on from VILE, but that doesn’t mean VILE has moved on from ye.” Replied Crowley. “Ye are a traitor in their eyes, and ye should know what VILE does tae traitors. Without Bobcat tae protect ye, yer fookin’ sittin’ ducks.”

_“So? VILE does not see us as a priority like they do with you and Carmen. Unless they manage to get rid of both of you, I do not think we are in danger.”_

“Ye really don’t seem tae get it, as long as VILE continues tae exist, they will eventually track ye down. Ye are a liability so long as ye are alive with yer memories of VILE intact, as ye could easily go tae the authorities with what ye know. Besides that, VILE know ye are close tae Carmen. There isn’t much tae stop them from capturin’ ye and usin’ ye as bait.”

Le Chevre just wanted a normal life. He had joined VILE to escape a bad situation, assuming at first that it would be a temporary thing and that once he’d earned enough money, he would be able to leave. Of course, he quickly learned that wasn’t true and any implication of that was false. Nobody left VILE on their own free will.

Crowley’s words were making a lot of sense, which was starting to worry Le Chevre. In order to get Bobcat, Crowley had needed to track down the location of her farm. Even if he hadn’t told anyone else where it was, that didn’t mean VILE wouldn’t still be able to find them. Even if they left the farm behind, even if they never stayed in one place for more that a day, it wouldn’t be enough. They would never be completely safe until VILE was gone for good.

_“What exactly do you want from us? You do not seem the type to call simply to see how we are doing.”_

Crowley chuckled. “Gettin’ ye on my side was easier than I thought it would be. Anyways, we need ye fer one last heist. It will be dangerous, but nothin’ worse than ye’ve done before. VILE wants me dead more that ye, so I’ll be riskin’ my arse the most.”

_“And you are certain that this will be the last heist we will ever have to participate in? If I understand correctly, this will be the last time we have to deal with VILE and we will be completely safe after that, correct?”_

“Taking down VILE ain’t gonna be somethin’ we do in a day, but we will hurt them enough tae give them bigger things tae deal with than tracking ye two down. We’re gonna kill Maelstrom.”

Le Chevre was a bit torn. He knew that killing a member of the Head Faculty would set VILE back greatly and show the organization that they weren’t messing around. But on the other hand, it would very risky. He didn’t want to put El Topo and himself in that much danger, not again. But then again, if they ever wanted to have a normal civilian life, what choice did they have?

_“We will discuss this with Carmen and the others later. But for now, I will not give you a definite answer.”_

“That’s fine. Do me a favor? Don’t tell her I’m gonna kill Maelstrom. She thinks I’m non-violent now, and I mostly am, but ye can’t disagree that some people just deserve tae die.”

Le Chevre said nothing, but he certainly agreed.

A few hours later, everyone was back on video chat, discussing the details of the first real step in taking down VILE. At that point they had mostly hammered out the specifics, but there were still a few things that needed to be decided.

“Do any of ye know how tae fly a helicopter?” Asked Crowley. “After all, we are flyin’ in.”

Shawna rolled her eyes. “Alistair, _ye _know how tae fly a helicopter. Ye told me ye escaped by stealin’ one.”

He nodded. “Aye, but I need a backup pilot in case anythin’ goes wrong. So, do any of ye know how tae fly a helicopter?”

“Dash mentioned he could.” Replied Zack. “He said Countess Cleo made him learn since she hated a lot of the operatives that already knew how to fly.”

Dash had been sitting next to Zack, but hadn’t really been paying attention, instead choosing to read a fashion magazine. But the second he heard his name spoken; the magazine slipped from his hands.

“Absolutely not!” He snapped. “VILE thinks I’m dead, and I would like to keep it that way! If Crowley knows how to fly a helicopter, there’s literally no reason for me to get involved in this.”

“They’re gonna find out yer alive sooner or later.” Said Crowley. “Ye should use that chance tae fight them, rather than just wasting all yer potential. Ye were a VILE operative for fooks sake, put that training towards somethin’ fer once in yer life.”

“You can say whatever you want, but I refuse to get involved!” Yelled Dash. “I left VILE behind, and as long as I never leave this place, they’ll never find out that I’m alive.”

He stormed out of the living room, and up the stairs. He slammed his door so hard that everyone downstairs could hear it.

“I’ll talk to him.” Said Zack, getting up from his position on the couch. “He’ll listen to me better, and ever if I can’t convince him to join in this, I can at least get him calmed down.

Dash had no idea what VILE would do if they found him alive, and he was terrified. He hadn’t initially left on his own, so that didn’t make him a traitor, but he hadn’t attempted to contact VILE and let them know he was alive, either. And of course, since he’d technically been captured (even if it hadn’t been by the authorities), that might also play a part in their decision on how to deal with him.

Most likely he would be mindwiped. He’d lose years’ worth of memories and be thrown into a situation that was now even worse than the one he’d initially joined VILE to escape from. Or they could also just decide to forget the whole situation and have him return to being Countess Cleo emotionally abused and chronically overworked assistant. He honestly couldn’t decide which option would be worse.

Dash didn’t want to live in hiding forever, but what option did he have? No longer would he be able shop at upscale department stores, or see the latest fashion designs on the runway, instead he would simply have to experience these things in fashion magazines and on TV. It sucked, but it was what he had to do to keep himself safe.

As Dash was sitting on his bed, trying to get his mind off the whole VILE situation, he heard a knock at his bedroom door.

“Go away!” He shouted. “I don’t care if I’m the only one who knows how to fly a stupid helicopter, I refuse to get involved!”

The door opened slightly, and Zack peaked in. “Its just me. You seemed really upset, and I came to talk to you. I just wanted to make sure that you’re okay.”

Dash rolled his eyes. “Fine, you can come in. but don’t you dare knock anything over; I’m not in the mood to deal with your stupidity.”

“You know you can’t live your entire life inside.” Said Zack, taking a seat on the bed. “Now, I’m not saying you have to get involved in this heist, I just don’t want you living your entire life in fear. Its not good for you.”

“I’m doing just fine in here, thank you very much. I have my sewing, I have you, and I may just order a succulent sometime soon. There’s nothing out there but danger.”

It wasn’t hard to tell that Dash was unsatisfied with his life and desperately did want to leave the base, even if he attempted to convince himself and others that he was perfectly fine. Zack often caught him staring longingly out the window, wanting just to be able to finally see the city for himself. There was a Sephora that could be seen from their hideout, and Zack knew Dash would absolutely love to go down there are check out the new eyeshadow pallets.

“Babe, you’re clearly not fine. I know this started with being about the heist, but its really boiled down to just your anxiety keeping you from being able to fully function as a person. Tell you what; if you just take a walk down to the Sephora with me, I’ll make sure nobody brings up the heist to you ever again.”

“Fine, but if VILE ends up capturing me because of this, you’ll have to spend the rest of your life dealing with the guilt of how this was completely your fault.”

“Deal.”

Dash was incredibly nervous about being out in the city like this. VILE hadn’t found him when he’d visited Bobcat to get his cast off, but that was different. Bobcat lived in the middle of nowhere; there wouldn’t be any point in having operatives stationed out there. But this was San Diego, a major city with plenty of art to steal. Of course, VILE would have operatives stationed in a place like this.

In order to better disguise his identity, Dash had borrowed a hoodie from Zack, and wore a pair of ripped jeans, two things he would never be seen wearing during his VILE days. In many ways, Dash looked a bit different than he did when he’d initially left. Thanks to lower stress and Countess Cleo no longer being there to berate his food choices, he’d put on a few pounds and was just barely underweight at this point. His hair had also grown out a bit, and was no longer being styled by a professional stylist, and the lip fillers Countess Cleo had insisted he get were starting to wear off.

Sensing his boyfriend’s nervousness as they stepped out from the building, Zack reached for Dash’s hand. “Its gonna be fine, Dash. VILE thinks you’re dead, so there’s nobody actively looking for you. I just don’t want you living the rest of your life in fear.”

“I’m just being cautious.” He replied. “Keep an eye out for anyone suspicious.”

“Of course; that’s what Carm always wants me to do. I’ve never been in a Sephora before, but I know they sell makeup and that you like makeup. You can get anything you want; we’re spending VILE money.”

_He’s using you. _Dash’s mind screamed out. _He’ll give you gifts act all nice, but then he’ll want things back from you. Remember the way the Countess was when you first started working for her?_

Dash quickly shoved the intrusive thought from his mind. Zack was like Countess Cleo; he cared about him and would never use him for personal gain. But he couldn’t get past the suspicious timing. Why was it suddenly so important to get Dash comfortable with leaving the house right after the topic of the heist came up?

Dash suddenly stopped, causing Zack to stop as well.

“Is everything okay?” Asked the redhead. “Did you see something?”

Dash let go of the shorter man’s hand. “I just want to know; what’s the sudden interest with getting me to go outside if you don’t care about the heist? Is this some kind of trick to get me involved in it anyways?”

“No, that’s not it at all. The conversation just made me worry that I might be enabling your fear and anxiety by not making you leave the hideout. Even without you as a backup pilot, the heist will get done, but no matter what, I want you to be able to live your life after VILE to the fullest. Besides, I can’t take you on any fun dates if you won’t leave your room.”

“I’ll do it!” Dash said rather decidedly.

“Huh?”

“The heist.” He clarified. “I’ll do it, I’ll be the secondary pilot. For you.”

“That’s not necessary.” Replied Zack. “I saw how uncomfortable the whole idea made you, and I don’t want you to do something like that just for me.”

“Crowley honestly made some good points looking back, as much as I hate to admit it. I really don’t want to live my life in fear because of VILE, and even if they do manage to find out I’m still alive, they have other, more powerful former operatives to deal with. Besides, when will I get another chance to show you my flying skills?”

Zack smiled. “That’s great to hear, Dash. You wanna go home and tell everyone the good news?”

“Of course, but first I’m getting myself some new Urban Decay. After all, I was promised a trip to Sephora.”

“Of course, like I said, you can get anything you want.”

The assignment was growing closer and closer, and Blue Jay knew she would have to act soon. It was clear Neal had picked up on her sudden change in behavior, but he hadn’t commented.

“Neal, we need to talk.” She told him. “It’s important.”

Neal’s expression suddenly turned to one of worry. “Those words never mean anything good, love. Well, let’s get this over with.”

“The thing is, I haven’t been completely truthful. While my feelings for you are completely real, I wasn’t initially sent here to recover from an injury; I was sent by the Head Faculty to keep an eye on you and make sure you didn’t find out about Crowley.

“You see, your friend, Crowley was sent on an assignment to kill someone named Bobcat-I think you may have actually known her-and after doing so, he suddenly decided to betray VILE. The Head Faculty was worried you’d join him if you found out, so they wanted me to keep an eye on you.

“To be completely honest, I wasn’t going to tell you the truth-first because I was following orders, and then because I started to genuinely like you and didn’t want you to hate me-but after being told of Maelstrom’s true intentions, I can’t keep it a secret any longer. You see, the assignment they’re planning to send us on is a trap. Professor Maelstrom doesn’t want some random operatives to just kill Crowley outright, that isn’t sick enough for him. Instead, he wants you, one of Crowley’s closest friends to do it. He’s luring Crowley with the chance to face a Head Faculty member, but in reality, he’s going to have you and some other senior operatives kill him. I wasn’t supposed to tell you any of this, but it seemed wrong not to. I’m sorry.”

Neal was completely silent. Blue Jay couldn’t tell what he was thinking, or what he was planning to do.

“Are you mad?” She asked. “I feel bad about lying, but I didn’t want to face the wrath of VILE for telling you sooner, I’m sorry.”

“I knew a girl like you wouldn’t go around with a guy like me for no reason, even if I was able to win you over in the end, so I guess I should have suspected something sooner.” He chuckled. “Of course, I’m pissed, but not that much at you. I mean, if our roles were reversed, I probably would’ve never told you-or at least waited until the last minute to do so-so I thank you for that. But yeah, I’m pissed, and now that you told me what’s up, we’re not gonna give Maelstrom his little show after all.

“We can’t let on that I know the truth. We’ll go out on the assignment like we’re supposed to, but we’re not gonna fight Alistair; we’re gonna help him. I don’t know why he turned on VILE like this, but considering how completely loyal he was, it has to be for a good reason. I’ve never really trusted the Head Faculty, Chickadee, so I wouldn’t put it past them to be responsible for something even Alistair would find deplorable.”

Blue Jay was slightly relieved. “So, you’re not mad at me, even though I betrayed your trust?”

“Of course not, Chickadee. You were just following orders, and you even went against the Head Faculty for me. But going forward, we’re on the same team. No more secrets.”

She nodded. “No more secrets.”

Shadow-San found it odd that Crowley had insisted on a backup pilot when he was perfectly capable of flying the helicopter himself. The younger man had always been a bit of a lone wolf, not wanting to have to rely on anyone, and never having a backup plan, so this was very out-of-character for him. Shadow-San brushed this aside, figuring that actually having an emergency plan in case something happened to him was Crowley’s way of showing that he’s changed.

Nobody spoke for most of the flight, not even Zack and Ivy, who were normally quite talkative. The helicopter Shawna had managed to acquire for this heist was an older military model (nobody was about to question where or how she got it), and not exactly roomy or comfortable. They were all squished in like sardines, a few members of the crew having to sit on the floor due to the limited number of seats.

“Before we land, I think we should go over the plan one more time.” Suggested Carmen.

“What’s tae go over?” Asked Crowley. “We’ve memorized this shite, and it ain’t even that complicated tae start. We go in there, fight off any operatives, and capture Maelstom, before leavin’ him fer the police.”

She sighed. “Look, Crowley, we’re all tense about what’s going to happen, but it’s very important that everyone knows exactly what they are doing. Not only will we be fighting a Head Faculty member, but we are entering a situation that is very likely a trap where VILE is waiting for us. We’re going to go over the plan one more time, and whether you feel you need to listen or not is up to you.”

Crowley rolled his eyes. He had the plan burned into the back of his brain (along with a few changes he had made to it without informing the others) and wouldn’t be forgetting it any time soon. Dash was to remain in the helicopter, Zack and Ivy would keep watch outside, Player and Data would provide technological support remotely, Moose Boy and Otter Man would deal with the security system (and any other mechanic security measures VILE had in place), El Topo, Le Chevre, and Shawna would deal with operatives and guards, and Crowley, Shadow-San, and Carmen would go after Maelstrom.

As everyone discussed the parts they would be playing in the heist, Crowley just continued to stare into the cloudless horizon, occasionally glancing at the navigation panel. This would be his last heist, he really had to make it count.

They landed on a more secluded area of the decrepit island, far away from the few factory buildings that still stood and hidden by various plant life. There was no way VILE would see their aircraft without combing the entire island on foot. As Crowley turned off the helicopter, he haphazardly tossed his jacket towards the back of the aircraft.

“Don’t ye need that?” Asked Shawna. “Ye keep yer weapons in there.”

“Not this time.” He told her, motioning to the hoodie he’s been wearing under it. “I put everythin’ in here; I knew it would be too bloody hot fer my jacket, and I came prepared.”

Shawna narrowed her eyes but did not comment. Crowley wore his jacket everywhere-he’d almost gotten heatstroke one summer because he refused to take it off-and she knew something was up, she just couldn’t figure out what.

“Before we get in there, I just what tae let ye know that what we do today will have a lastin’ impact against VILE.” Said Crowley. “Ye have all been wonderful, and I am honored tae complete one last heist with ye. Don’t put yerselves at too much risk but make this thing count!”

“As long as we follow the plan exactly, everything should be fine.” Replied Carmen. “We’ll all go off in our separate groups and meet back here at the helicopter when everything’s done. That’s when we’ll contact ACME and have them take Maelstrom into custody. Its highly important that we stay in constant communication, so everyone keep your earpieces turned on, and stay with your group. Do everyone understand?”

Crowley nodded. “Of course.”

According to Carmen’s original plan, El Topo, Le Chevre, and Shawna were supposed to be incapacitating guards and operatives by tying them up or knocking them out. But they were following Crowley’s plan, which meant doing so would cause even more deaths. Instead, they were trying to drive as many operatives and guards out of the building as possible.

Shawna didn’t really have any preference when it came to leaving Maelstrom alive or not, but Crowley was her best friend, and she trusted his judgement. Le Chevre was doing this because he wanted VILE out of his life for good. If Maelstrom were to be jailed, VILE could just have him broken out of jail, but there was nothing they could do if he were dead. The only one who had any qualms about the whole thing was El Topo. He didn’t want another person’s death to be his fault, but he knew more deaths would come if Maelstrom lived.

Shawna pulled the first fire alarm she saw, not fully expecting the place to still have a functional safety system, but the flashing lights and loud sirens blared, nonetheless. She didn’t know if VILE had outlined evacuation plans, or if they would just expect everyone to stay inside and keep up their duties, but she figured it would drive at least some out while simultaneously creating confusion among the guards and operatives.

Thing’s probably would’ve gone more smoothly and safely if Carmen knew about the true plan, but that just wasn’t an option. Even after knowing the atrocities VILE had committed, especially at the hands of Maelstrom, she would have been vehemently against killing him, no matter how unredeemable he was as a person.

In a way, they were still sort of keeping their promise to Carmen. By forcing the operatives and guards to evacuate instead of subduing them, they would be saving many lives. Crowley was a changed man now, and he decided that there was only one person there today that truly deserved to lose their life.

Much like Shawna, El Topo, and Le Chevre, Moose Boy and Otter Man had been informed of Crowley’s true plan, having promised not to inform Carmen’s gang. The two of them had no issues with it, they certainly wanted Maelstrom dead as well.

Unlike the others, however, this change in plan hadn’t affected their responsibilities much at all. They would be disabling the security cameras and any other security systems, leveling the playing field a bit by taking away one of the main advantages that VILE had. The only difference from Carmen’s original plan, however, would be leaving a single security cam active. The other Head Faculty members would get to see one of their own be killed, letting them know that VILE’s days were numbered.

Crowley, Shadow-San, and Carmen had encountered very few threats along their way to take down Maelstrom, and the few guards or operatives that they did encounter seemed to be familiar with Shadow-San and/or Crowley and didn’t bother sticking around to try and fight.

At some point when they were trying to navigate the maze of a building, an alarm suddenly started blaring. Carmen found this odd, as a security system would have gone off as soon as they entered the building, not at a random time. Crowley, on the other hand, understood what was going on completely.

As they passed a large vent, Crowley suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. Confused, he turned around to face the new threat, only to come face-to-face with Neal. Without a second thought, he wrapped his hands tight around Neal’s arm, ready to snap the limb at any second.

“I thought ye were my friend.” He growled. “But I guess ye were always just a VILE bootlicker. I didn’t want tae have tae fight ye ever, especially after all we’ve been through, but that ain’t gonna stop me.”

“You have it all wrong, love.” Said Neal, slipping out of Crowley’s grip. “We’re not here to fight you, we’re here to help you.”

Crowley looked around. “We?”

Blue Jay crawled out from her hiding space behind a pile of moldy, wooden crates across from the vent. “That would be me. My codename’s Blue Jay, but you can call me Kiara if you want.”

Crowley was still confused. “Who’s she?”

“She’s my girlfriend, and the reason I’m here in the first place.” Replied Neal. “VILE’s plan was for me to kill you, and Kiara was actually supposed to be in on it but told me the truth. As far as VILE knows, we’re following their plan exactly.”

Crowley looked the woman over. She was young, probably not much older than Carmen was. He didn’t recognize her as a VILE operative, but then again, he didn’t know a lot of the younger operatives.

“I’ve never met her before, but if ye say she’s good, I’ll have tae trust ye on that.” He told Neal. “One little question, though, why didn’t ye answer any of Heidi’s calls when she tried tae reach out tae ye initially?”

“That was sort of my fault, sorry.” Replied Blue Jay. “I had no idea if Data was involved or not, and I didn’t want to take any chances. Even if she hadn’t been involved, she still knew that you’d escaped, and the Head Faculty didn’t want Neal finding out.”

“I guess that answers that.” Said Neal. “We’re here to help you, and I know exactly where Maelstrom is.”

“Lead the way!” Shouted Crowley.

As Moose Boy and Otter Man made their way through the building, disabling every security camera that Player and Data picked up along the way, they eventually found themselves on a balcony overlooking a large and empty room. This was where Maelstrom, along with a handful of elite operatives, was waiting. The final camera, the one that would broadcast the final moments of the oldest Head Faculty member, was still active and right above their heads as they hid in its blind spot.

“Alright, I can see you two on the map, along with the location of the last camera.” Said Player over their earpieces. “It can’t see you now, and it shouldn’t be hard to disable without being spotted.”

“We have a change of plans.” Otter Man told him. “We will not be disabling this camera, and Heidi will be taking things over from here.”

“What do you mean?” Demanded Player. “We’re following the plan exactly how its supposed to be, and in order to do that, you need to disable that camera, and I need to stay fully connected.”

Data suddenly appeared on his screen, all his background programs simultaneously closing.

“Carmen Sandiego can be too naïve; she doesn’t understand that some people just can’t be fixed.” She explained. “We cannot allow you to continue on with us; not only would you cause complications, but you are too young to witness what is going to occur. Goodbye, Player.”

As Data’s face disappeared, Player’s entire system shut itself down, no doubt the actions of the older hacker. Cursing, he rebooted his system, hoping to be able to inform Carmen of what was going on, but found he could not connect to the internet. Data had planned this well.

As Shadow-San, Crowley, Carmen, Blue Jay, and Neal were just about to approach where Maelstrom was waiting, Data’s voice suddenly came over the earpieces on her three original allies.

“Moose Boy and Otter Man have disabled all of the cameras like they were told to.” She told them. “They have also been able to pinpoint Maelstrom’s location without him finding out about them, and I will use your GPS location to lead you there.”

“No needty, I bumped into an old mate who’s gonna help me.” Replied Crowley. “Neal’s here; he was supposed tae kill me, but his girlfriend-blue bird, or somethin’ like that-told him the truth, and he’s gonna help us take down Maelstrom and the operatives he has waitin’.”

“Okay, then. I will continue to monitor everyone’s location and alert you at the first sign of trouble.”

“Where’s Player?” Asked Carmen. “I expected him to be the one speaking to us, if not both of you.”

“He was having some internet connectivity issues, I heard there is a large storm in Ontario right now. It probably knocked out a few power or internet lines.” Lied Data. “I’m sure he will be back on soon enough.”

Carmen narrowed her eyes. Something seemed off about Data’s story, but she didn’t have time to try and figure it out.

“Alright, for now just check in on Antonio, Jean-Paul, and Shawna.” She instructed. “See if they’ve incapacitated most of the guards and operatives, and if they’ve done that, try to lead them closer to where Maelstrom is. We might need some extra backup.”

“Consider it done.” Replied Data, ending the communication.

As they approached a windowless, metal door, Neal and Blue Jay suddenly stopped.

“Maelstrom is waiting behind that door, along with four elite operatives.” Said Neal. “Kiara and I were supposed to be there, too, but as you know, we’re not exactly working for VILE anymore.”

“We might outnumber them, but I can’t say for sure that we outmatch them.” Added Blue Jay. “They had to dig deep to find operatives who had zero fear when it came to facing Crowley, so don’t expect an easy victory.”

“I’m goin’ after Maelstrom.” Announced Crowley. “The rest of ye deal with the operatives. Remember, just because they show no fear, doesn’t mean they’re tougher than ye are. It just means they’re overconfident, or like me, and don’t fear death.”

“Crowley, stick to the plan.” Said Carmen.

He shook his head. “This is my fight, and I intend tae finish it myself.”

Without warning, Crowley shoved his way through the door, forcing the others to rush in as well. As soon as the four operatives inside spotted the group, they charged. Maelstrom continued to stand in the center of the room, smirking.

Anticipating what was about to happen, Moose Boy jumped from the balcony to join in the fight. He hit the ground hard, but got up a few seconds later, seeming to have barely felt a thing, despite leaving a bit of a dent in the factory floor.

“I’ve been expecting you.” Said Maelstrom, motioning for the operatives to pause their attack. “Of course, I wasn’t expecting the eel and the little bird to turn on me like this, but they are such small players in this plan that I don’t really see an issue. After all, I’m after the grand prize; Crowley, the traitor who just doesn’t seem to die.

“I don’t know how you found out the truth, and frankly, I don’t care. The fact of the matter is that we were simply doing what was best for VILE. Of course, we couldn’t tell you the truth, so we simply pinned it on someone who we figured was going to die of an overdose, anyways.

“You could have gone far in VILE, Crowley, maybe you would have one day taken my seat at the Head Faculty table. But no, you had to go and look for answers to questions you don’t even know. And now, thanks to your dangerous curiosity, you won’t be making it out alive.”

“Aye, but neither will you.” Exclaimed Crowley.

Slipping his way around the operatives, he suddenly ran up to Maelstrom, shoving the older man against the wall. With one hand, he carefully unzipped his hoodie, revealing a vest of explosives underneath. Pinning Maelstrom to the wall by his throat with one hand, Crowley took the detonator from his pocket, clasping it tightly.

“I don’t think I could ever truly change as a person; I’ve been this way fer far too long.” Said Crowley. “I guess this will be my one good act, my change tae actually do somethin’ right fer once, and by killin’ ye I can avenge both Bobcat and my Angel, all while riddin’ the world of one of the worst people tae ever live in it. There aren’t enough explosives tae kill anyone else in this place, just ye and me. But I will die like I lived; in a fiery blaze.”

Everyone was completely frozen in shock, utterly taken aback by Crowley’s actions. Even the operatives hadn’t moved so much as a muscle.

Despite a good number of the group being aware of his plan to kill Maelstrom, they hadn’t expected him to do it in a manor that would take his life as well. Instead, they figured he would just stab the man, or shoot him, or do literally anything else.

“Stop!”

Crowley had been just about to push the button and blow them both to kingdom come but paused and turned at the sound of Otter Man’s voice.

“Sven, turn away!” He ordered. “Or take off yer glasses, or somethin’. I don’t want my final act tae hurt ye any more than its already gonna.”

“Alistair, please don’t do this.” He begged. “I went along with your plan because I wanted Maelstrom dead, but had I known what you were really planning, I wouldn’t have. This isn’t the only way; you can end his life without taking your own.”

Crowley shook his head sadly. “No, there ain’t. This is the way things gotta be, and ye gotta accept it. Keep fightin’ the good fight when I’m gone, and make sure VILE can’t hurt people like us ever again.”

“No! You can’t do this, Alistair. We need you. _I _need you.”

“No ye don’t. Yer strong, Sven, stronger that ye could ever know. Ye’ve survived much worse, and ye’ll get past this too. I love ye mate, thank ye fer all ye’ve done fer me, and fer givin’ me a second chance when I didn’t really deserve it. Goodbye, Sven.”

Crowley pressed down the button on the detonator, smiling slightly as he did so. The second the bombs went off, he and Maelstrom were both instantly dead, blown to smithereens as the fire began to engulf their remains.

The operatives fled, making no attempt at capturing or killing anyone else at the scene. They had succeeded in ridding the world of Crowley, which had been their main objective, but in the process had allowed a member of the Head Faculty to be killed. Not to mention, the fire seemed to be spreading quickly and none of them felt like further risking their lives.

Otter Man was understandably in a state of shock after witnessing Crowley blow himself up. He stared straight ahead, clearly out of it, shaking slightly. He didn’t even seem to be aware of the fire that was about to engulf the entire building.

“We need to get out of here before this place goes up in flames!” Shouted Carmen. “Data, tell the others to get out of the building as soon as possible and meet us back at the helicopter.”

“I’m on it.” She replied over the headset. “I saw everything over that last camera that Moose Boy and Otter Man weren’t able to deactivate, so I know not to expect Alistair back at the helicopter. We’ll deal with this further when everyone is out of danger.”

“Sven, jump and I’ll catch you!” Moose Boy shouted to his partner. “We need to get out of here now.”

Otter Man was in such a deep state of shock that he really couldn’t process what was going on. He knew he had just witnessed Crowley’s death, and could hear Moose Boy calling out to him (although he couldn’t tell what his partner was saying), but everything else was just a blur.

“I don’t think he can hear us; he’s clearly in shock.” Said Blue Jay. “I think we’re gonna have to go around and get him that way.”

“We don’t have time for that, Chickadee.” Replied Neal. “This place is a maze and we’ll never get to him in time.”

“Well, we can’t just leave him!” She protested. “He’s your friend, you can’t just be okay with letting him burn to death.”

“I’m not okay with him burning to death, but I really don’t know what we’re supposed to do!”

As they argued, Shadow-San had begun to scale the wall of the factory, making his way up to the small balcony.

“Shadow-San, what are you doing?” Called Carmen.

“Saving a life.” He said simply.

Reaching the top, Shadow-San grabbed Otter Man (who honestly didn’t weigh too much) and carried him down on his back. When he reached the ground, he handed the younger man over to Moose Boy.

“Now that we have everyone, I suggest we leave before this place before it becomes impossible to do so.”

Nobody had any qualms about getting out of the burning building as fast as possible.

When the reached the helicopter, everyone else was already waiting for them, ready to take off. Dash, who had been informed by Data that he would be flying everyone home, had prepped the aircraft for takeoff, and was now sitting in the pilot’s seat.

As the six of them entered the helicopter, Shawna surveyed the group. She had met Neal before, and didn’t really question his presence, knowing he was friends with Crowley, but narrowed her eyes at Blue Jay, not knowing who the woman was or what her intentions were. Despite her concern over the addition of two new members and Otter Man’s current state, it didn’t take her long to notice someone was missing.

“Where’s Alistair?” She demanded. “Don’t tell me I have tae go into a burnin’ buildin’ again and pull his arse out of there.”

Neal stared at his feet. “He’s not coming back, love. In order to make sure Maelstrom was well and truly dead, he took his own life in the process. There’s no way he could’ve survived blowing himself up like that.”

“Oh.” Was all she could manage to say.

A lot of things were starting to make sense now, like how Crowley had decided to leave his jacket on the helicopter, despite normally wearing it everywhere. He’d gone in there with the intention of blowing himself up and had wanted to leave a memento behind for his friends to remember him by.

“We should get out of here.” Said Carmen. “Dash, get us off this island!”

“Everybody take a seat so you don’t fall over and break something during takeoff.” He instructed. “I can fly this thing without killing is, but Countess Cleo used to always complain that my takeoffs were too rough.”

Moose Boy grabbed a blanket that was with the medical supplies and wrapped it around Otter Man, knowing it was important to keep his partner warm when he was in shock like this. They took up a stop near the back of the helicopter, electing to sit on the floor instead of taking up seats. They were joined by Neal who seemed understandably concerned, and by Blue Jay, who didn’t seem comfortable being so close to people she had recently seen as her enemies.

As they took off into the sky, and the island slowly disappeared from view, Shawna held Crowley’s jacket, tracing the patches from punk and metal concerts that they had gone to together. She had just lost her best friend, and he hadn’t given her a chance to say goodbye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, I'm trying my best to get chapters out there, but life has gotten in the way. This chapter was kinda draining to write, so I might take a short break to write some more lighthearted stuff, maybe fill another prompt. 
> 
> As always, if you liked this, I would love if you left feedback.


	25. Survivor's Guilt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Otter Man grieves the death of Crowley hard. The Head Faculty decide what their next step should be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry its been so long but school's been a lot and I've been a little burnt out recently, plus my hours at my part time job have been longer than planned. I'll try to shoot for one chapter a months as that's all I can really manage right now.
> 
> Trigger warnings for this one: violence, mental health issues

For the entirety of the flight back to Glasgow, nobody spoke. Otter Man was still too deeply in shock to even cry but had ended up falling asleep about halfway through the flight. Of course, he would probably be incredibly emotional when he woke up, so it was in everyone’s best interest to let him sleep as long as possible.

At one point Blue Jay got up and tossed her communicator out the small, sliding window of the helicopter. She knew she’d never need to contact any member of VILE further, and without it VILE was more limited when it came to tracking her down.

“I’ve arranged tae have an associate of mine pick the helicopter up in San Diego and fly it back here.” Shawna told Dash once they landed. “Easier fer everyone that way.”

“Are you two coming back with us, or staying here?” Dash asked Neal and Blue Jay. “Because there’s no way in hell I’m flying this thing all the way to New Zealand. I suggest you get plane tickets if you want to get back there.”

“I don’t think we can even go back.” Said Blue Jay. “VILE knows where we were living so it wouldn’t be hard for them to have a few operatives or even the Cleaners waiting for us when we return. I’m going with Neal.”

He nodded. “I guess that means we’re staying here.”

Neither of them had any of their possessions on them, other than the clothes on their backs and what they might have in their pockets, but thankfully neither of them had been forced to leave anything too important behind. Neal had always kept the few things he would never want to lose at Crowley’s place, and Blue Jay had a safety deposit box in Oregon where she kept anything important that she couldn’t just leave with her parents.

Of course, they would have both preferred to have at least one other outfit besides their stealth suits, but they could make do. Crowley’s clothes would be a little baggy and maybe just a bit short for Neal, but they would do until he could get a few outfits in the correct size. As for Blue Jay, she figured she could just borrow a few things from Shawna or even Otter Man.

“You guys can stay with us, but you’ll have to sleep on the couch.” Explained Moose Boy as he carried Otter Man out of the helicopter. “Its not as bad as it sounds; the couch pulls out into a bed. Alistair would always sleep there when he came to visit since he gave us the bedroom.”

“It can’t be worse than the beds they had back at VILE Academy.” Said Blue Jay. “They probably still had the same mattresses when I was there that they had when you were there. And I wouldn’t put it past them to still be using those same mattresses at the new hideout.”

“Wait, how old even are you?” Asked the blonde. “You seem a lot younger than Neal and the rest of us, and I don’t think I’ve met you before.”

“I’m 23.” She told him. “Me and Dash were in the same year, roommates actually. We never really talked much when we were students, and didn’t keep in contact after graduation, but I’m glad he’s still alive, especially considering how terrible the rest of our year was.”

Dash hadn’t thought about his time at VILE Academy in quite a while, much less Blue Jay. Safe for the occasional conversation, and a physical altercation over the ownership of a tube of mascara, they hadn’t interacted much. Despite this, she’d still treated him better than the great majority of their year.

“Its nice to see you again, too.” He muttered, just wanting to get back to San Diego at this point. “I have to drop of Antonio and Jean Paul as well, so can we speed this up? I’m tired and I want to go home.”

Blue Jay nodded. “I’ll call you sometime, it will be nice to reconnect.”

Dash really didn’t want to try and reconnect with anyone from his time with VILE, but didn’t have the energy to argue right now, and simply nodded. Knowing how persistent Blue Jay could be, that call was happening whether he liked it or not.

It was pretty late when they arrived back at the hideout, and Dash, Zack, and Ivy headed to bed almost immediately. Shadow-San had opted to stay up and keep an eye out for the person Shawna had sent to pick up the helicopter just in case something happened to go wrong. Carmen decided to call Player to see if his internet was back on, knowing he would probably be awake at this hour. To her relief, she was able to connect to him right away.

“Player, its good to see that your internet’s back up.” She told him. “Data said that she thought it might have gotten knocked out in a storm. Although, its probably a good thing that you got disconnected, as the heist got pretty messy and Moose Boy and Otter Man weren’t able to disable the last security camera.”

“Red, Data lied to you.” He said simply. “The weather around here’s been perfect; she somehow managed to remotely disable my internet. She said something about not wanting me to get in the way, but also not wanting me to see what was about to happen. What exactly happened while I was offline?”

Carmen’s suspicions were suddenly proven correct. She had initially figured that Crowley’s plan was his own doing and everyone else was following procedure, but she was now certain that the others may have knowingly played a part in Maelstrom’s death. Moose Boy and Otter Man should have had no trouble disabling the last security camera, as it was the same as all the others. Shawna was probably in on it as well-Carmen figured she was probably the one to have set off the fire alarm-and El Topo and Le Chevre may have known as well.

She did doubt that they knew about Crowley’s plan to take his own life, however, especially with Otter Man’s reaction. Crowley had likely lied to them as well, or at least led them to believe that after Maelstrom was killed, he’d simply light the building ablaze and they’d all leave safely.

“Crowley and Maelstrom are both dead, that’s all you really need to know.” Replied Carmen. “Nobody else was hurt, but Otter Man doesn’t seem to be in a good place mentally. Then again, after what we witnessed, I don’t think any of us are. On a slightly more positive note, two more VILE operatives-Blue Jay and Neal the Eel-have decided to defect and join our side.

“I think the others-even Antonio and Jean Paul-may have been in on the plan to kill Maelstrom; none of them thought he was worth redeeming. But I don’t think they knew about his plan to give his own life, or if they did, probably figured it was a last resort. There’s no way they would have gone with his plan if they knew.”

“So, what do you think we should do, Red? Should we have a talk with the others-or at least Data-about going against the plan?”

“Yes, but not right now. Everyone still needs time to recover from what happened, and they don’t need to think about what happened any more than they already are.”

Carmen herself was thinking about taking some time off from fighting VILE after the heist. She hadn’t been close to Crowley by any stretch, but with how graphic his death had been, she knew she wouldn’t be forgetting him anytime soon.

Once again, the Head Faculty was down a member. They had all seen the video of Maelstrom’s death, and his demise had been confirmed by the operatives that were there. The only positive was that the thorn in their side known as Crowley was now dead as well.

Coach Brunt, Countess Cleo, and Dr. Bellum had grown used to having one seat at the table open (they could count the number of times Roundabout had been physically present on one hand) but having two now unoccupied was just uncomfortable. They knew that they’d have to find a fifth member sooner or later, but it was still up in the air if they should wait or just start the search now.

“I say we move on as soon as possible and start the search right away.” Suggested Brunt. “You know how long it took us to find a replacement for Shadow-San, so there’s no reason waiting around.”

“Unlike Shadow-San, Gunnar wasn’t a traitor, and I think it would be disrespectful to replace him right away.” Replied Roundabout, present only virtually as usual. “Perhaps we should leave the seat open for a little while to honor his memory.”

Countess Cleo rolled her eyes. “I still can’t believe that you won’t accept the fact that he never actually cared about anyone, especially you, and there’s no point trying to honor his memory for any reason. But still, I have to agree that we should wait on finding a replacement for other reasons. After all, two more operatives have decided to defect, and I fear others will soon be joining them if we’re not careful.”

“I believe there are more important issues at hand right now.” Agreed Bellum. “We cannot split our attention right now. All in favor of waiting on finding a new fifth member?”

Roundabout, Countess Cleo, and Bellum all raised their hands immediately. Brunt was hesitant but raised hers as well.

“It has been decided.” Said Bellum. “We will wait until things have calmed down before finding a replacement for Gunnar.”

Having not witnessed Crowley’s demise Dash was largely unaffected by the whole thing and was actually doing better that he was before, being willing to leave the hideout so long as he was wearing a disguise and Zack went with him. They had just returned from the fabric store and Dash was excited to finally get started on his latest project.

Much to his annoyance, just as he was finishing cutting out the last of the pieces, there was a knock at his door.

“What is it?” He asked, not really wanting to deal with whatever was going on outside his room at the moment.

“Phone call for you.” Said Ivy. “Its Blue Jay, she said she wants to catch up with you.”

Although Blue Jay had always seemed nice enough (despite pretty much ignoring him when they were students in order to keep herself from becoming an outcast), Dash had no interest in actually talking with the woman. They had little in common, and he was pretty sure this whole conversation was going to be her way of feeling better about herself for outcasting him.

“I don’t want to talk to her.” He told her.

“Come on, dude, just give her five minutes of your time.” Zack chimed in. “She seemed nice and really wants to talk to you.”

“Fine, I’ll talk to her. Bring me the phone and leave me alone until I’m done.”

Zack did as he was told, closing the door behind him. Dash waited until he heard the two siblings walk away before taking Blue Jay off hold.

“Hello, Kiara.” He said simply. “Look, I’m very busy right now, so if we could make this quick, that would be great.”

_“Hi, Dash, I’ll do my best to take as little of your time as possible.” _Replied Blue Jay, having no intentions of cutting things short. _“So, how are things?”_

Dash let out a sigh. “Before you waste your breath, let me just tell you that I know exactly what’s going on. You feel bad about the way you treated me when we were students, and now you want me to tell you that I forgive you so you can feel better about yourself. Frankly, I never pegged you as that type of person, but I guess its not something I should put past anyone from VILE.”

_“No, that’s actually not it at all. I do wish I were nicer to you, but comparing myself to our classmates, I don’t actually feel too guilty. Its just, seeing how close Neal is to Henrik and Sven made me realize that I don’t really have any real friends, nor have I really ever._

_“Growing up I was always too busy with ballet to go to birthday parties, or even hang out with kids my age after school, and the girls in my program were bad enough, but their moms were even worse. By the time I left the lifestyle behind, I’d pretty much passed my chance to make friends with my classmates. And, as you know, VILE was a bust in that department, too._

_“I was fine with being a lone wolf for a while, but not anymore. Seeing as you’re the closest thing I’ve ever had to a friend, Dash, since I know you’re alive, I thought I would try and get closer to you. Neither one of us wants to relive our time at VILE, but that doesn’t mean we can’t try and be friends.”_

Dash was still suspicious of Blue Jay’s intentions. She’d never made any attempt to reach out to him while they were still at VILE, so he found this odd.

“And why should I believe that your intentions are actually good?”

_“To be completely honest, I don’t know. I can’t offer you any proof that I’m telling the truth when it comes to simply wanting to be your friend because I’m lonely, and I know you’ve been burned before, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give me a chance. There’s no guarantee that we’ll actually become good friends, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t give it a shot.”_

“I’ll think about it.” He said simply. “I’ll call you back later, goodbye.”

_“Bye, Dash, talk to you later.”_

Dash honestly wasn’t sure if he was going to call Blue Jay back or not.

It had been just over a week since the heist, and while Otter Man was starting to show signs of improvement, it was pretty clear that it would be a while if he returned to anything close to normal.

He was talking-albeit not much-which was certainly a good sign, but hardly got out of bed, and there were times where he would just sob for hours. Most of the time it was a battle to get him to eat anything, and he wasn’t always able to keep down even the plainest of foods.

Because they were all on the run, they couldn’t exactly take him to a hospital to make sure everything was okay, or even get him the psychological help he so desperately needed. The best they could do was have him looked over by a back-alley doctor who worked for the Rats who found nothing physically wrong with Otter Man and found his illness to be likely psychosomatic.

Moose Boy hadn’t left his side except when he had no other choice the entire time. Even then, he would have Neal keep an eye on Otter Man, even if he would only be gone for a few minutes. It was clear that he was worried and just wanted to help his partner, even if he wasn’t completely sure how to do it.

Because she was the only one not grieving Crowley’s death, Blue Jay had been mostly taking care of things, although Neal did help from time to time with the cooking and cleaning. She had found some unused bottles of hair dye in the bathroom cabinet and dyed her hair from its normal dark brown to a jet black in order to further disguise herself when she needed to go out.

Of course, there was no way she could perfectly blend in with the people around her. Her accent was too obviously American, as were her mannerism, so there was no pretending that she was a Glasgow native. If anyone asked, she was a college student from America studying abroad at the University of Glasgow, as that seemed to be a logical explanation.

At the moment, nobody was particularly worried about VILE. There was no way they knew about the current whereabouts of the four former operatives and were likely too busy dealing with the sudden death of a Head Faculty member to really worry about a few traitors that didn’t really pose any current danger.

There would be more fighting in the future, as VILE was still standing, but for now everyone was just focused on healing and trying to create some semblance of normal within their lives. Even Carmen’s team wasn’t mentally ready to fight again after what they’d experienced and was taking a break from trying to interrupt any of VILE’s current heists.

Blue Jay wasn’t completely sure what she would do when VILE was gone for good. Had this happened before she met Neal, she probably would’ve gone back with her parents, but now she wasn’t sure. Her father likely wouldn’t be a fan of her dating a man a bit older than her, and would never let them live together on any property he had ownership over, especially the penthouse apartment Blue Jay had grown up in. As much as she desperately wanted to spend time with her parents and sister again, she didn’t want to leave Neal, and would likely move back to New Zealand with him if it came to that.

But for now, she didn’t have to make that decision. Despite the death of a Head Faculty member, VILE was still standing strong. She would likely remain in Glasgow for at least a few months, quite possibly more than a year.

It wasn’t just Otter Man’s mental health that Neal was worried about, but Moose Boy’s as well. The blonde was normally so cheery, and usually made a few trips out to the shops within a week, even if he didn’t actually need anything. But even since they’d returned from the heist, he’d been unusually quiet, not really paying attention to anything besides Otter Man, not even his own wants and needs.

Moose Boy was getting enough sleep and eating enough, but had only showered once within the last week, and he’d taken less than ten minutes with that. All of the things he normally enjoyed, such as watching sports, had been all but abandoned in favor of devoting all his time and attention towards his partner. Dealing with his inconsolable partner while grieving the death of a close friend himself was taking its toll.

Neal was dealing with Crowley’s death himself-the two of them had been particularly close, especially after Fallen Angel’s death-but he knew he needed to help his friends as well. Moose Boy desperately needed to leave the apartment for his own mental health but wasn’t about to leave on his own with Otter Man in his current state, so Neal knew he’d have to give his friend a push in the right direction.

“I really think you should try and get out of the apartment for a little while.” He told Moose Boy as the blonde was walking into the kitchen. “It would probably help you take your mind off of everything that’s happened.”

He shook his head. “_Nej_, Sven needs me too much. I can’t leave him here alone when he’s like this.”

“I know you want to make sure Sven’s okay, but you need to take care of your own mental health as well.” Replied Neal. “You’re an extrovert, Henrik, its not good for you to be trapped inside for this long. Sven needs you, sure, but you can’t help him if you’re not in a good place yourself. Sometimes you just need to put yourself first.

“How about we go to that pub Crowley always loved and have a few drinks in his honor? We won’t be gone for more than an hour, so it won’t really have a big impact on Sven. Besides, its not like he’ll be alone; he’s got Kiara to keep an eye on him and she’ll call us if anything goes wrong.”

Moose Boy thought about it for a moment. Between the death of an old friend, dealing with his partner’s issues, and not going out in quite a while. He had been feeling a bit empty inside. He felt a bit selfish about the idea of leaving his partner alone in his moment of need, but Neal was right; he really did need to work on taking care of his own mental health as well.

“I guess it would be good for me to go out.” He told Neal. “Just let me tell Sven and make sure he’ll be okay first.”

“Alright, sounds good with me. I already talked to Blue Jay and she said she’s perfectly fine with keeping an eye on him while we’re out. Besides, Shawna will also be close by if anything happens.”

Moose Boy wasn’t completely confident in his decision, but knew it was probably for the best.

For the past week Data had been doing nothing but work. She’d gotten behind on a few things due to her involvement in the heist, but it also helped keep her mind off of Crowley’s death and how her friends were coping with it.

VILE had _informed _her of Crowley’s death and the actions of her friends, but she had no idea if they had any suspicions of her involvement. In their eyes she had always been seen as an obedient and naïve operative, but with the way things were lining up there was no way they’d just chalk it up to coincidence forever.

Just as she was finally starting to catch up to where she was supposed to be, Data suddenly got a video chat invitation from Player. Hesitantly, she accepted it.

“Hello, Data.” He said as he appeared on the screen. “How’s Germany this time of year.”

“Look, about the heist, I’m sorry for what I did.” She told him. “I had my reasons for wanting Maelstrom dead, even if they may have been slightly selfish. I just didn’t want you interfering with the death of a man who has taken so much from my friends and I, and I also wanted to protect you; there are just some things children should not see.”

“Yeah, Red told me about what happened, and she agreed that it was a good think you cut out my visuals. But I didn’t call you to talk about the heist; we decided it would be best to give it time before we dealt with what happened. Right now, we’ve got another issue to deal with.

“A while back I was able to get into the servers of the organization known as ACME-if you haven’t heard of them, they’re a secret organization that exists to take down VILE-and I found information on a raid that will be occurring on a hospital they have confirmed to be run by VILE. Because they share our goal of taking down VILE, and they have worked with our team before, Carmen thinks that we should give them a hand with the raid, specifically without them know that we’re doing it.

“I know that you have admin privileges to all of VILE’s servers and that much of their security measures are controlled virtually, so you could disable the security system remotely. I don’t know if there’s any way for me to be granted those privileges and use them without being too suspicious, so this one will probably be on you.”

There was nothing about this situation that felt okay to Data. She had always been wary of law enforcement, even before she joined VILE, due to her father’s views of them. And considering this was an underground organization with no surface information for her to learn about them, she was even more suspicious. She wanted VILE brought to its knees as much as anyone, but at what cost? How could she trust ACME not to gun down everyone inside simply because they considered them to be _bad_? After all, criminals were still people, and those were people she knew.

Not to mention, something like this could drive VILE’s suspicions even further when it came to her involvement. Sure, she could easily cover her tracks and hide her connection, but security systems didn’t just suddenly turn themselves off and there were very few people who could actually remotely deactivate them, thus narrowing things down when it came to who the double agent was.

She knew that as long as VILE existed she was at risk, but while this would serve to weaken it, it wouldn’t fall just yet. Yet, she still wanted to whatever it took it keep Crowley, Bobcat, and-to an extent-Fallen Angel’s deaths from being in vain. This wasn’t a choice she could make right now.

“I don’t know if I can help you.” She said honestly. “I don’t trust ACME not to do something violent and extreme, and the more I get involved with this type of this, the more I put myself at risk, but I do understand that this could be an important step in taking down VILE. Give me some time to think, that is all I ask.”

He gave a nod. “We’ve got just under a month, as the date for this thing is about a week before Christmas. I’ll send you the information to help you decide and tell Red you’re thinking about it. Just try to get back to me soon.”

“I will, thank you.”

Data knew this was something she couldn’t tell her friends about, and they certainly didn’t need to know. Her decision would be her own, not influenced by them.

Moose Boy had initially been worried about going out and leaving Otter Man home alone with Blue Jay, but as the night wore on, he was regretting it less and less. He and Neal had been at the pub for at least three hours at that point, having run into a group who had been friendly with Crowley. They’d had a few beers each, but were nowhere near drunk, maybe just a bit tipsy.

Moose Boy was in the process of ordering another beer when his communicator suddenly went off. Seeing that the caller ID showed it was coming from the apartment landline, he knew it had to be Blue Jay and picked up immediately.

“What’s wrong?” He demanded, knowing she wouldn’t be calling just to say hi. “Is Sven okay?”

_“Sven’s not okay.” _She replied, sounding incredibly panicked. _“You need to come back here right away.”_

“What happened?” Asked Neal, listening in beside Moose Boy. “Did Kiara call? Put her on speaker.”

Moose Boy did as he was told, setting the device on speaker mode. The pub was fairly quiet, and they were seated in a corner away from the bar, so noise interrupting their conversation wasn’t really a concern, nor was anyone being bothered by their call or listening in on it a worry.

“We’ve got you on speaker, Chickadee.” Neal told Blue Jay. “Tell us what happened so we know what we’re dealing with, and we’ll be there as soon as we can.”

_“Sven was asleep when you guys left, and I initially figured he’d just sleep the entire time, or at least stay in bed like he’s been doing, but he woke up like an hour ago. I watched him head into the bathroom and heard him turn on the shower, which I was actually pretty happy about, since it seemed like a sign he might be feeling better._

_“At this point, he’s been in the shower for nearly 45 minutes, and I’m getting really worried. There’s no way the water’s still warm at this point, and I’ve been knocking and yelling for about ten minutes, but he won’t give me a response. I left a pair of fairly sharp scissors in there from when I was cutting Neal’s hair, and considering how depressed Sven has been, I’m worried he might use them to hurt himself. Please, just come back home; I don’t know what to do.”_

Otter Man had never shown any signs of wanting to self-harm, despite years of obvious depression and anxiety, but then again, he’d never been in a state anything like what he was in now. They weren’t about to take any chances, however, and knew they needed to get back home as soon as possible.

“We’re on our way, Chickadee, hold tight.” Neal assured her, ending the call before turning to Moose Boy. “We probably should have drank less considering something like this was a possibility. I mean, I think I’m pretty sober, but that may just be the beer talking.”

“We don’t have time to wait for an Uber!” Exclaimed Moose Boy. “We have to get back there now!”

“Okay, love, but I’m going to be the one to drive, then.” Replied Neal. “You’re not the most level-headed person in a crisis, and I’m worried that you’ll drive erratically or speed, get us pulled over, and have us both spend a night in the drunk tank. We can’t help Sven if we’re in jail.”

Moose Boy, nodded, tossing Neal the keys. He would have run the two and a half miles back to the apartment if he needed to.

When the arrived bac at the apartment, Blue Jay opened the door before Neal could even get his key in the lock. It was clear that she had been crying.

“He still hasn’t come out.” She told them. “I’m really scared.”

“We’ll get him out of there safe and sound.” Neal assured her. “Henrik knows what he’s doing; he’s been with Sven for nearly a decade.”

Moose Boy did not know what he was doing. In most situations he would have Otter Man right next to him and could physically comfort his partner. This was something he’d never encountered before, but he knew he still had to act.

“Sven, I need you to come out here!” He yelled, pounding on the locked door. “Or at least just tell us that you’re okay. Everyone is worried about you, please just say something.”

When he got no reply, he knew he would have to take drastic actions. After backing up as far as he could, Moose Boy ran at the door, ramming into it with all his strength and all but shattering the cheap plywood.

He found Otter Man curled up in fetal position in the corner of the shower, shivering from the now cold water, and sobbing. As to be expected, he was completely naked, his once semi-long hair having been cut much shorter in a fashion that looked like it had been done with a rusty pair of hedge trimmers. Moose Boy turned off the water and sat on the edge of the tub closest to his partner.

“Sven, are you okay?” He asked, already knowing the answer. “Kiara called us because she was really worried about you.”

Otter Man didn’t even move to look at him.

Moose Boy placed a gentle hand on his partner’s shoulder. “I know Alistair’s death has really affected you, but you can’t just stay here all cold and wet; you’ll get sick.”

“Its not just that.” He muttered. “After Devon’s death, I had this stupid idea that all of us would just grow old within VILE, or at least make it to 40. I know VILE operatives die every day, but they were usually people I didn’t know, and I figured that the surviving members of our little group would be fine, especially with all the hardship we’ve already gone through. Alistair’s death just shattered my little illusion that everything would turn out fine for us.

“Now that Alistair’s gone, who’s next? I could get run over by a car because I can’t see shit. Neal could be murdered by his girlfriend. Heidi could be found out and executed by VILE. I can’t even imagine a way I’d lose you, but I know it could happen. All of you could just die tomorrow and it would just be me.”

“Sven, we’re not going to just all die like that, especially not tomorrow.” Moose Boy assured him. “You always cross at the light, and even with all the crime in this part of the city people drive pretty safe. Kiara seems pretty nice, and if she risked her own life to help someone she didn’t even know for Neal’s sake, I don’t think she’s going to kill him. Heidi is smart enough not to get caught, and even if she does, I doubt Franziska would let anything bad happen to her. And as for me, we’ll, I’ve always been fine before.

“Life is risky and uncertain, but that doesn’t mean you should just go with the worst-case scenario and expect that to happen; you just have to hope for the best and keep your head up. I can’t guarantee that nothing bad will ever happen again, but I can tell you that if you’re always worried about things going wrong, you’ll never enjoy them when they go right. We’re free from VILE now, and one day they’ll be gone, and we can go on to live normal lives. Alistair sacrificed himself so we could live better lives, and we shouldn’t let that sacrifice be in vain.”

Otter Man knew Crowley would have wanted to move on, and while he would have liked to honor his dead friend’s wish, as the same time, he just couldn’t. His mind kept telling him that this was somehow his fault, that he could have prevented Crowley’s death if he’d just tried hard enough, and that if his friends died before he did, it would be his fault, too.

He knew feeling this way wasn’t normal, and that he probably did need serious help, but what was he supposed to do about that right now? Frankly, just staying in the shower like this, despite the water having gone cold a while ago, and pretending that none of his problems actually existed. It wasn’t exactly a healthy coping mechanism, but he didn’t know what else he was supposed to do.

“I know things probably won’t turn out as bad as my mind says they will be, but you telling me that I shouldn’t worry about losing everyone that’s important to me doesn’t make me worry any less. I’m sorry, Henrik, I know something’s wrong with me, but I don’t know how to fix it.”

“You have nothing to apologize for, Sven, I just wish I knew how to help you. There’s nothing wrong with you; you’ve just seen a lot of hardship in your life and were never really taught how you should handle it. As soon as we’re no longer being hunted down, I promise I’ll find a therapist for you.”

Otter Man sighed. “I really just want to go to bed right now. This week has just been so mentally taxing, and I’m having trouble processing it right now. I didn’t know what to do with my emotions and I think that’s why I had a breakdown. We should probably talk about this, but I really don’t have the energy for it today, so how about tomorrow?”

The blonde nodded. “Of course, Sven, we’ll figure things out in the morning when you’re less tired and not so upset.”

Otter Man didn’t resist as his partner dried him off with a towel, wrapped it around his waist, and carried him to their bedroom, he was just too tired to care. Moose Boy helped him put on pajamas and tucked him into bed, silently kissing him on the forehead before climbing into bed next to him.

For the first time since Crowley’s death, Otter Man had a slight glimmer of hope that things were going to turn out alright. The future was still uncertain, but that didn’t mean the worst-case scenario that he came up with in his head was going to play out. Perhaps they would take VILE down with no further issues, and he and Moose Boy would finally be able to live out their lives.

Otter Man decided that once VILE was gone and they were free to live their lives, he would like to stay in Scotland rather than move back to Sweden. In just under a year this place had become his home, and he wasn’t planning on leaving it any time soon.

Otter Man woke up with a slight headache which he assumed was caused by his breakdown the previous night. Moose Boy was no longer next to him. Slipping on his glasses he saw that the alarm clock on the bedside table showed it was past ten in the morning at that point. He has slept for over twelve hours.

With a groan, he forced himself to get up and out of the bedroom. Heading into the living room he found Blue Jay sitting on the couch, watching some TV show she seemed only half interested in. the bathroom door was still broken, but the pieces of shattered plywood had been disposed of. Moose Boy and Neal were nowhere to be found.

“Good morning, Kiara.” He greeted the woman. “Where’s Neal and Henrik.”

“Good morning, Sven.” She replied, switching off the TV. “Neal and Henrik went out to the hardware store to buy a new door for the bathroom; I stayed behind so you wouldn’t be alone when and if you woke up. Are you feeling better? You sound better.”

He nodded. “I’m actually feeling a lot better. Look, I’m really sorry about last night; I didn’t mean to cause all that trouble or upset you like that.”

“Its completely fine.” She assured him. “I just got scared since I thought you might hurt yourself, especially since you’d locked the door and weren’t replying. I know it wasn’t your fault that you reacted that way; you were just upset.”

When Otter Man had locked himself in the bathroom the night before, he hadn’t been thinking about anyone but himself. He just wanted to separate himself from his negative emotions, not thinking about how his actions might impact the others. Despite this reassurance that his reaction wasn’t his fault and that he was just in pain, he still felt incredibly selfish. He never even considered how his actions would affect the people he cared about.

“I’ve been having a lot of issues around Crowley’s death and just some of the implications of it, and while I understand that Neal and Henrik are grieving along with me, I just had a lot of emotions I didn’t know how to express.

“You’ve probably already realized this, but I don’t have the best mental health. I don’t know you enough to feel comfortable telling you about my past, especially the time before I joined VILE, but it was horrible. It left me with a lot of issues that my time as an operative probably made worse. I was in denial for a while that anything was wrong with me, but now I’m starting to accept that I need help. Of course, that’s not really something I can get right now.”

Mental health was never a priority at VILE, and it could be argued that this wasn’t done out of cost cutting or because they didn’t see it as a necessity, but as a purposeful decision. VILE didn’t want well adjusted operatives that would question the morality of their actions, they wanted cold sociopaths who did as they were told and stayed with VILE often out of fear of the possibility of having to return to their old lives.

Blue Jay knew that in comparison to most of the other operatives, she actually had a pretty good life. She was born into an upper-class family who cared about her and supported her, and never really dealt with any hardships as a child. Her main reason for joining VILE was that she had no idea of what to do with her life and was afraid that her parents would be disappointed by her lack of direction, especially if they found about the stealing and underground fights.

“I come from money, and my father’s the CEO of a large medical supply company; he has connections to some of the best doctors and psychiatrists in America.” She told Otter Man. “Once we’re no longer on the run I’ll convince them to pay for you to see a highly experienced therapist. Hell, we can even get some experts to look at your eyes. There’s an eye, ear, and throat hospital right near my family’s place that has done some amazing things; you and Henrik can even stay with us if you end up needing surgery there.”

“Why the hell did you join VILE in the first place? You clearly had a decent life beforehand, and you honestly don’t seem like too much of a sociopath. You just don’t fit the profile.”

She shrugged. “I did ballet at a professional level for a while, realized it was toxic, and left. I got into stealing for fun and petty revenge, then boxing and MMA, which led to me getting involved in an underground fighting ring. VILE discovered me through that and recruited me, so I lied to my parents and joined. I guess I was just afraid of disappointing my parents if I told them the truth.

“Its getting kind of late, do you want something to eat? I could make you some oatmeal or a breakfast shake. I bought a juice maker the other day, and I haven’t got around to learning how to use it yet, but if you want some fresh juice, I could probably figure it out.”

When Blue Jay had first arrived there had been little food she was actually willing to eat on a daily basis. Moose Boy and Otter Man weren’t exactly unhealthy eaters, but they did have their fair share of snack foods, frozen dinners, and other options that didn’t take too long to prepare. Even most of their fruit and vegetables were either frozen or canned. Moose Boy would cook dinner a lot more when they had first arrived in Glasgow but had cut back on that in recent months.

The day after she’d arrived, after dying her hair and borrowing some clothes that wouldn’t stick out, Blue Jay had gone to a nearby Tesco and picked up a great deal of organic produce, protein powder, nuts and seeds, cage-free eggs, chicken and other lean meats, Quinoa, Greek yogurt, protein bars, and a whole bunch of foods that were basically just the healthy versions of things the already had. She, of course, stocked up on other items that she knew she’d need but that Moose Boy and Otter Man would have no reason to have.

“Its fine, I’ll make my own breakfast.” Replied Otter Man. “I’m feeling a lot better, and I should probably start doing things for myself again.”

“Sounds good. Hey, I know a little bit about hair cutting and actually left those scissors in the bathroom because I was giving Neal a trim. I can fix your hair, so it doesn’t look so choppy and uneven if you’d like.”

Otter Man had no idea what he’d been trying to accomplish by cutting his hair like he’d done the previous night, only that it just felt like something he should do. He wasn’t in his right mind then, but thankfully he didn’t feel the need to hurt himself during his breakdown. His hair would eventually grow back without any lasting reminder of what he did.

He nodded. “Yes, I would like that, thanks. I don’t exactly have plans to go out in the next few days, but if I do need to leave the apartment, I can’t exactly go out looking like this.”

“Great! Neal said you’ve had the same haircut for a while, and this with definitely make you less recognizable to VILE. I have some hydrogen peroxide, so we could bleach your hair, too, or we can dye it black like I did with mine.”

There was no way Otter Man was going to let Blue Jay bleach or dye his hair, that was where he drew the line.

Neal hadn’t been too bothered about living on the fifth floor of a building that didn’t have a working elevator initially. He was in good shape and didn’t mind a little walk. But now, having to help Moose Boy bring a replacement door up all those flights of stairs, he was a bit annoyed by the fact that the landlord had let it stay broken so long (he’d visited Crowley multiple times before when he was alive, so he knew the broken elevator wasn’t new).

“We should have probably just paid the store to deliver this thing for us.” He complained. “Then at least we wouldn’t have to carry it all the way up here ourselves.”

Moose Boy shook his head. “_Nej_, I don’t think anyone from the hardware store would be willing to enter a building in this part of the city. Not many food delivery people will come to this building, either so we always tip the ones that do very well.”

“Makes sense, I mean, there has been at least one murder right outside of this building that Alistair told me about, and I suspect there’s been more around here, at least a few of them caused by him and Shawna.”

Neal knew the elevator wasn’t going to get fixed anytime soon, and there wasn’t much he or anyone else living in the building could do about it. When you were wanted by the law you simply took what you could get and didn’t speak out.

“Henrik, you know how to fix a door, right?” Asked Neal. “Because I sure as hell don’t.”

“_Ja_, I took a lot of construction jobs before I joined VILE. I can fix a lot of things.”

Back in their days at VILE academy their friend group had managed to put a hole in the wall of their dorm room while messing around. Because they didn’t want to deal with whatever punishment the Head Faculty would subject them to, they decided to fix it themselves. Neal was able to steal some paint but not any plaster, so Moose Boy had fixed the wall by filling it with soap and painting over it. Nobody had noticed during their time there, and it was likely their patch job had remained until the island was destroyed. Moose Boy’s handyman skills had saved their asses multiple times, but the hole in the wall incident was the most memorable.

Finally, after what felt like forever, they reached the fifth floor with the surprisingly heavy door. Attempting to open the front door, Neal found it locked.

“Chickadee, can you let us in?” He called. “This door’s pretty heavy and I don’t want to dig my key out of my pocket.”

He got no response.

Neal had no reason to suspect anything had happened, as there were no visible signs of a break in, so he was perplexed on why Blue Jay wasn’t answering him. He had his doubts that she and Otter Man had decided to go anywhere, and had they done so, he and Moose Boy would have at least gotten a text.

“Seriously, Kiara, this thing was a pain in the ass the carry.” He shouted, a bit more annoyed this time. “It wouldn’t kill you to give us a hand.”

“Maybe she’s sleeping?” Suggested Moose Boy. “Or she could be in the shower.”

Neal shrugged, putting his end of the door on the ground to dig through his pockets for the key. “Sounds about right, don’t think anything would really happen while we were gone.”

As Neal unlocked the door and opened it, he could hear the sound of music playing. He knew Blue Jay loved fast and upbeat music, but there was no way she’d be playing it out loud if Otter Man was still asleep. She did, in fact, have respect for other people.

They spotted Otter Man and Blue Jay in the bathroom; she was trimming his hair in front of the mirror. Blue Jay has no expert on giving haircuts, but she could at least give an even trim, and since none of Otter Man’s hair had been cut too short during his breakdown, she was having no trouble evening it out nicely.

“We’re back with the door.” Announced Moose Boy. “Were you two okay while we were gone? How are you feeling this morning, Sven?”

“I’m doing a lot better today.” He replied. “Kiara offered to fix my hair, and since I can’t have it looking so uneven when and if I need to leave the apartment, I decided to let her. She seems like she’s doing a better job than either of us would be able to manage.”

Otter Man hadn’t had short hair since his days at VILE academy. Everyone in his class (with a few notable exceptions) had their hair cut short due to Brunt claiming it could be grabbed and used to cut your head off by your enemies. Most graduates opted to keep their hair short and manageable, but Otter Man had let his grow out.

“We got a new door.” Said Neal. “But I guess we can wait until you guys are done to fix it.”

Moose Boy looked at the new door, then at the doorway, then back at the new door. “I don’t think this is going to fit; it looks too big.”

Neal honestly seemed surprised by this revelation. “What? I though all bathroom doors were the same size. Why didn’t you tell me we should have measured? I thought you used to work construction.”

“_Ja_, but I never had to buy the doors; only install them. I didn’t ever have to measure a doorway before, that was always someone else’s job.”

Neal let out a light chuckle. “It is what it is, love. Guess we’ll measure the doorway, carry this thing all the way back down, and see if the hardware store takes returns on doors. I have no idea what we’re supposed to do with it if they don’t.”

Everything Data had ever been told about ACME painted them as a cruel and terrible group. They had apparently killed a former Head Faculty member and were intent at taking down VILE at all costs. The way the words _at all costs _had been said by the Head Faculty made her assume the worst. If ACME had killed one VILE operative it was likely they would do it again, possibly on an even larger scale.

Then again, all these things had been told to her by VILE, so they could have been exaggerated, due to misunderstanding, or simply fabricated. According to Player, Carmen hadn’t worked for ACME like VILE had suspected, and they were actually trying to take her down as well. She had received help from them before but wasn’t closely allied with them in any way.

Even if ACME wasn’t the problem, there was no way she could stay fully anonymous while getting involved in something so big. She doubted that The Troll would sell her out simply for VILE’s sake, but if staying silent would risk the safety of him or his brother, he wouldn’t hesitate. And of course, Bellum could always find out about what she was up to.

If Data did nothing, the raid would still occur, but she could simply look away and pretend nothing bad was happening. If she told the Head Faculty, and they were able to prevent the raid, she would still have to come up with a reason for having this information and would probably be outed as a double agent. If she participated in the raid remotely, she would have at least some control over the situation if things went wrong.

The choice seemed like it should be obvious, and yet she just couldn’t figure out what to do. Data wished she could consult her friends on the matter, but it was really best that they stayed out of it. The less they were involved, the better.

The more she thought about it, the more she realized how important it was for her to be involved. Not only would she be able to make sure ACME succeeded against VILE if they were as Carmen believed them to be, but she would also be able to keep them from doing too much damage if her suspicions were right. And VILE would probably be too distracted by the raid to consider the possibility of a double agent.

_I have made my decision. _She messaged Player. _I will participate in the raid. But if ACME proves to be violent, I will put a stop to their actions as far as my limitations allow me._

Player didn’t respond instantly, but she knew he was helping Carmen at the moment and it was probably best he shut out all distractions until that heist was complete.

For the past few days, Bellum seemed to be completely immersed in her tablet, practically ignoring the other three remaining members of the Head Faculty whenever they tried to communicate with her. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem, but with Maelstrom gone, it was more important than ever for all the Head Faculty to be present.

Countess Cleo could deal with Bellum’s lack of attention to an extent, but with the amount of stress the recent events had put on everything, she finally snapped.

“Saira!” She barked. “Normally I have no issue with you watching cat videos instead of doing anything productive, but now isn’t the time for that. If you don’t put your tablet away, I will take it away.”

“I am not watching cat videos; I am actually doing something important.” She explained. “I have been going over some of our more recent failed assignments, especially the one involving the hard drive being stolen, and I cannot figure out how Carmen Sandiego would be able to acquire some of this information without leaving any sort of trail. Her hacker is good, but not infiltrate VILE’s databases good.”

Brunt shrugged. “So? If she really is working for ACME they probably have a whole team of hackers. One of them has to be smart enough to slip through your little firewall.”

“Perhaps, but then my system would have picked up on the use of outside software. As far as I can tell, whomever went through the database did so on VILE software, using an admin account. None of my security measures failed, as this person did not need to hack their way into the system and appeared quite familiar with VILE’s databases. I believe it is clear that we have a mole on our hands.”

Brunt still didn’t seem convinced. “And how do we know that one of our idiot operatives didn’t just leave themselves logged in on a public computer? It has happened before, and it will happen again. Normally, they’ll just get logged out after a few minutes of inactivity, but ACME could have found one before that ten-minute period was up.”

Bellum rolled her eyes. “Do you really think I would give admin access to someone I would think stupid enough to do that sort of thing? Very few people have admin privileges, and most of those who do rarely leave their homes and would have no reason to ever use a public computer. It is clear this was not done by accident but out of malice.”

Roundabout, who had been attending the meeting virtually and had remained silent so far, finally spoke up. “Call me crazy, but I simply cannot find any benefit for any of our hackers or other tech-savvy operatives if VILE were to see its downfall. Not only would they lose their employment and anonymity, but it is more than likely ACME would turn on them anyways.”

“It is not the motive I care about, only who the traitor is.” Said Bellum. “I cannot tell exactly who it was who accessed this information and then shared it with Carmen Sandiego, but I have been able to narrow it down quite a bit. It will take me time to figure it out, but I am certain I will. After all, everyone slips up from time to time.”

“We better hope you are able to figure it out soon.” Replied Countess Cleo. “Who knows what kind of damage an operative with admin access and computer knowledge could do against VILE if they set their mind to it.”

Despite their relationship, Sargent Schlachten never went through Data’s computers, and rarely even entered her workspace. There was a certain level of trust between them, so she had no issue giving her girlfriend privacy, especially considering the nature of her work. If Data didn’t volunteer the information, Sargent Schlachten saw no reason to ask.

Although they lived in the same house (which Data rarely ever left), and even slept in the same bed, Sargent Schlachten felt like she was seeing her partner less and less lately. Data seemed to be always working these days, and despite showing excitement for the new litter of puppies initially, had all but ignored the dogs completely. She seemed more stressed and tired than usual, as well.

Of course, a large workload was nothing new for Data, but the amount she was doing now just seemed excessive. She hardly had time to eat or sleep, and her life outside of her workspace was practically nonexistent. This drastic increase seemed rather suspicious, especially considering Data wasn’t the only computer whiz at VILE’s disposal.

Sargent Schlachten had considered messaging The Troll to see if he could give her some insight on Data’s increased workload, but decided against it, as she had always found him to be an insufferable asshole, and she likely wouldn’t be able to get any information out of him without threats (she had promised Data that she’d threaten people less and was doing her best to keep this promise).

She was aware of some sort of issue that was going on for a while and had ties to the recent death of Professor Maelstrom (the operatives were informed of his death but not the circumstances). It was on a need-to-know basis, however, so it was unlikely she would ever learn about it.

She knew Data was asleep, and briefly considered snooping, but thought better of it and headed to the kennels to feed the dogs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to write another one-shot for the prompt challenge before I start on the next chapter of this.
> 
> As always, feedback is appreciated.


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